250 BRITISH BIRDS. 
Ground-Thrush, the Black-Throated Ouzel belongs to the Eastern Palz- 
arctic Region, and is one of many Siberian birds which are in the habit of 
occasionally missing their way on their autumn migration, and wandering - 
into Europe instead of South Asia. I met with it twice in the valley 
of the Yenesay on my return journey from the Arctic regions, between 
latitudes 60° and 63°, early in August; I found it a very noisy active bird. 
I was too late for eggs; but the not fully fledged young, three of which I 
secured, were a source of great anxiety to their parents, whose alarm-notes 
resounded on the skirts of the forest on every side. They principally 
frequented the neighbourhood of the villages on the banks of the river, 
where the forest had been cut down for firewood, and clumps of small trees 
were scattered over the rough pastures where the cattle of the peasants 
are turned out to graze insummer. They showed a marked preference for 
the pines, and were very wary. The males kept out of gunshot ; and I only 
obtained one adult, a female. 
It probably also breeds in the same latitude of the Obb, and in a similar 
climate in the pine-regions of the Himalayas and Eastern Turkestan. It 
winters in Western Turkestan, Baluchistan, and North India, occurring on 
migration as far eastwards as Lake Baikal, and in winter as far as Assam. 
Severtzow says that it breeds in Eastern Turkestan in the cultivated 
districts, gardens, grassy steppes, and salt plains, up to 4000 feet above the 
level of the sea; and there cannot be much doubt that it breeds also at a 
considerable elevation in the pine-regions of the lofty Himalayas. In 
winter when the Arctic forests are frost-bound, and all its northern haunts 
untenable, the Black-throated Ouzel is quite a common bird in Baluchis- 
tan and North India, where it regularly spends the cold season. In 
India its winter haunt is the more open woods at a level of from 3000 to 
8000 feet, and it is occasionally seen on roads and pathways. In Baluchis- 
tan its haunts (according to Blanford) are the miserable apologies for 
gardens at Guadar, one of the most desolate of inhabited spots on the 
earth’s surface, in the vicinity of houses, and on the sand-downs near 
the sea; and in other districts it frequents well-wooded plains. In Eastern — 
‘Turkestan it winters amongst the trees bordering watercourses or growing 
near tanks. Favourite places to observe these birds in the winter, 
according to Dr. Scully (Stray Feath. 1876, p. 80), are amongst the- 
sand-hills and low scrub-jungle; and further on (p. 140) he says that 
“the birds disappear entirely in the spring, migrating in a north-easterly 
direction, towards the hills and the Lob district, where it is reported to 
breed. It feeds chiefly on Eleagnus-berries, called ‘jigda’ in Turki, 
and commonly known as ‘ Trebizond dates; hence its name Jigda-chuk, 
i.e. “jigda-eater.’ This food is also varied with insects and worms, much 
similar fare to that selected by the other members of this family of birds.” 
Nothing is known of the nest of this bird; but a series of its eggs has 
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