512 Mr. H. F. Witherby— Ornithological 



steep, rock-strewn hill-sides to the spot, and, sometimes dis- 

 mounting, sometimes not, took our shots as the birds rose. 

 To me it was quite a novel method of Partridge-shooting and 

 the most exciting I have ever tried. The faultless way in 

 which the horses galloped over stones and boulders was, 

 perhaps, the most surprising part of the entertainment. 

 Amongst a race of fine riders and good shots, Masti of the 

 Farsi Medun Iliyats was noted. With a rifle he could hit 

 five out of six stones thrown into the air. With a shot- 

 gun he was equally clever, and I have seen him canter up 

 to a Calandra Lark and shoot it as he passed Avhen it rose 

 from the ground. 



Leaving these Iliyat friends with some regret we rode 

 straight for the Kuh-i-Dinar. At first no way over the 

 mountain was apparent, but as we got nearer to its base a 

 gap opened out, and we passed into a track which led over a 

 narrow neck connecting two of the highest peaks of the 

 range. We had now left the grass-lands behind us and were 

 clambering up a rock-strewn path hemmed in on either side 

 by frowning precipices. Crossing many a steep slope of 

 shingle we reached at about 9000 feet the first patch of snow, 

 and then slope after slope of deep snow was encountered. 

 Although it was the middle of the day, and the sun was 

 broiling hot, these patches of snow were hard and our mules 

 passed over them without difficulty. The top of the pass — 

 the f-ardan-i-Bijan, as it is called — my aneroid measured as 

 10.150 feet. To the east we could see the rolling grassy 

 country of the Iliyats, while in front of us, to the west, the 

 panorama was strikingly different. Flere we looked across 

 ridge after ridge of hard grey rock separated by narrow 

 valleys, and as far as the eye could see the oak tree flourished 

 and clothed both hill and gorge. Of birds on this pass 

 there were but few. Chukar Partridges were present as 

 everywhere, and at the very summit of the " Gardan " were 

 a few small bushes and a stunted tree inhabited by a pair of 

 homely Blackbirds and a couple of Tom-Tits. But the birds 

 which interested me most were the Snow-Finches, which flitted 

 like Snow-Buntings about the slopes of snow, and a pair of 

 Aceentors, which I saw on returning to the top of the pass 



