Trip to Kashmir. 19 



34. Lanius erythronotus (Vig.). 



Very common wherever we went in Kashmir up to 6000 

 feet. It bred in May and June. 



35. Pericrocotus brevirostris (Vig.). 



A fairly common bird, noticed everywhere in Kashmir 

 where there was any tree-forest, and evidently partially 

 migratory, as several small flocks passed up the Sind Valley, 

 through Gund, in the beginning of May, at a time when the 

 local birds were building their nests. We found several of 

 their nests — in all cases but one on the middle of a horizontal 

 branch of a fir-tree ; the exception was in the extreme top 

 of a walnut. The nests are most beautiful cups of moss, 

 lined with fine roots, a little down and hair, and covered 

 outwardly from top to bottom with green lichen. They are, 

 I think, the most beautiful nests I have ever seen. The 

 number of eggs in all full clutches was four. 



36. Oriolus kundoo Sykes. 



This bird is evidently a migrant in Kashmir. It was 

 common about Srinugger in April, but did not reach Gund 

 till well on in May. Further up the river we only saw it 

 once ; this was on the 1st June, when a small flock appeared 

 at Sonamurg ; they must, however, have passed on, as we did 

 not afterwards see any more there. The young were flying 

 at Gandarbal by the end of June. 



37. Sturnus humii Brooks. 



Very common in the Valley of Kashmir, breeding in 

 holes in trees in every village there, and fairly common 

 in the Sind Valley, nearly as far as Gund. In June a few 

 came to the villages further up the river, but we did not 

 see any at Sonamurg, or even at Gangadgir. There were 

 four or five eggs, and in one case six, in the various nests 

 we took. 



38. Temenuchus pagodarum (Gm.). 



We saw a single pair of this bird on the 28th June on 

 the Kashmir side of the Jhelum, a few miles north of 



Kohala. 



c2 



