Birds of the Zarafschan Basin. 437 



are conspicuous by their absence, except for small groves 

 of junipers at a high altitude in the mountains. 



When I journeyed out to Turkestan in 1907, I intended 

 to devote a year to this southern district, and to make a 

 collection of birds from the low sandy deserts of Bokhara 

 up to the high ranges that form the western declivities of 

 the Pamirs. 



I travelled by way of St. Petersburg, Moscow and 

 Orenburg, through Russian Turkestan to Samarkand. At 

 this town I made my headquarters, for it was situated on 

 the middle portion of the Zarafschan River, and the desert 

 and high mountains were equally withiu reach of it. 



Here I met Mr. W. R. Rickmers, whose knowledge of 

 Bokhara and whose travels in these countries are well known, 

 and with whom I was engaged to travel. But, unluckily, in 

 the end he was unable to accompany me, or to make any 

 long journeys, so that most of my excursions were undertaken 

 alone, and my labours were confined to the Zarafschan 

 Valley. However, by making a systematic collection along 

 the whole course of the Zarafschan I was able to get a very 

 good idea of the ornithology of the whole district. 



The Zarafschan is a typical river of Inner Asia. Having 

 its source in the immense glaciers in the mountain-mass 

 north-east of the Pamirs and flowing for two hundred miles 

 through rugged mountain scenery, it at last reaches the 

 open plain. Here, when set free from its mountain-home, 

 it waters a wide valley — the Vale of Samarkand, and further 

 out on the plain it creates the fertile area that surrounds 

 Bokhara. Further still, having been deprived of most of its 

 water for irrigation purposes, it flows on as a little stream 

 into the sand-dunes, forms a swamp, and gradually evaporates. 

 In its whole course it has a length of four hundred miles 

 and its basin is self-contained. 



The variety of scenery, of altitude, of climate, and con- 

 sequently of flora and fauna, that such a valley presents, 

 made it well worth a year's work. The climate is naturally 

 one of extremes, in a region so far removed from the ocean. 

 The winters are exceedingly cold, and bitter winds sweep 



