Trip to Kushinir. 5 



finished, the inducements to stay were very small^ and we 

 marched back again on the 8th, Returning, in the Sind 

 gorge we found a nest of Cinclus asiaf.icus in process of forma- 

 tion, and were interested in watching from across the 

 stream the bird collect a quantity of moss and then dive 

 througli the water to the bank on which it was evidently 

 building. Poor deluded bird ! it had chosen a position for 

 its nest which would have been two feet under water when the 

 melting of the snows caused the river to rise. This species, 

 however, generally seemed to succeed in rearing its young, 

 and does not suffer so terribly as the Wagtails {Motacilla 

 hodgsoni and M. melanope), which habitually breed under 

 stones on the islands, and the nests of which were frequently 

 washed away, often before the full clutches, for which we 

 were waiting, were laid. 



We camped at Gund on the 9th of May, and remained there 

 till the 31st, finding one or two nests daily till the 20th, by 

 which time nidification was in full swing, and we used to 

 take many clutches of eggs every day. Gund, which is at 

 an elevation of about 6500 feet, is a narrow plateau bounded 

 by high hills, some of which are well over 12,000 feet. On 

 the right bank (ascending) these are well wooded almost 

 to the very tops, while on the left bank, except in a few 

 places, the hills are bare and grassy ; the lowest 300 feet or 

 so being covered by a quantity of a shrub with bright 

 purplish-red flowers, among which Emberiza stracheyi, Pra- 

 tincola maura, Sylvia affinis, Horornis jjallidus, and other 

 birds breed in abuudauce. Our principal hunting-ground, 

 however, was on the wooded side, and there we had very 

 fair success. But we found so many of the birds we 

 specially hoped to obtain either absent or rare that on the 

 31st we started for Gangadgir, and again reached Sonamurg 

 on the 1st June, We stayed there till the 17th June, and 

 then left, most reluctantly, as our time was drawing to a 

 close. 



Sonamurg, which has been often described, is a broad 

 plateau of some two miles square, containing a few low hills, 

 which are sparingly wooded ; it is surrounded by lofty hills, 



