Dr. O. Finscli's Ornithological Letters. 55 



On board the Lotka ' Bismarck,' on the 

 Ob river, Sept. 26th, 1876. 



In my last letter I sent you a few notes on the birds 

 observed during our trip through the north-eastern part of 

 Turkestan, the north-western frontier of China, and the 

 high Altai, which we were obliged^ unfortunately, to cross 

 in great haste ; for I consider these regions of the greatest 

 interest, and a most attractive country for naturalists in 

 general, and especially ornithologists. I can only regret that 

 we had to travel in such haste to re^ch our destination, the 

 Ob region, as soon as possible. We left Barnaul, the capital 

 of the Altai, on the 28th of June, and reached Tomsk, a dis- 

 tance of 435 versts, on the 1st of July. We chose the route 

 of Salair in order to see the north-western part of the Altai 

 Mountains. This region is covered with immense woods, and 

 contains much animal life. But going always very fast in 

 our carriage (called a tarantasse), we could only observe 

 birds like flowers, on the road-side. In the woods we no- 

 ticed a Buteo, the Haven, Corvus comix, Pica caudata, Cu- 

 culus canorus, Starlings, Carpodacus eryth'inus, Tardus mu- 

 sicus and T. v'lscivorus, and one or two species of Phyllo- 

 scopus which I coidd not make out. From Salair to Tomsk 

 the mountainous wood-region disappears ; and in its place is a 

 steppe of high grass, mixed with small clumps of trees (chiefly 

 birch trees). Here Falco vespertinus (with young able to fly) 

 is one of the commonest birds, together with Pica caudata, 

 Corvus cornix, Pratiacola rubicola, and Emberiza aureola. 

 Occasionally I observed Aquila imperialis, Falco tinnunculus, 

 and Circus cyaneus ; and Milvus niger was by no means rare. 

 The song of Luscinia philomela was often heard in the thick 

 bushes, as well as that of Sylvia garrula, and the harsh cry 

 of Crex prateiisls, which was our regular night music during 

 our whole tour through the Altai, even at the high elevations 

 of more than 6000 to 8000 feet. 



We embarked in the magnificent steamer/ Beljetschenko,' 

 belonging to our friend Ivan Ivanovitsch Ignatoff^, and left 

 Tomsk at an early hour on the second of July. The steamers 

 of this gentleman perform a regular service during summer 



