342 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



by Dr. Scully duriug the second expedition, and has added 

 extracts from Colonel Biddulph^s field-notes, which were 

 communicated in MS. to Mr. Hume. We have, therefore, 

 in the present volume a pretty full account of the avifauna 

 of Yarkand, or Eastern Turkestan, so far as our present 

 knowledge extends. 



The total number of birds recorded in this work is 350, of 

 which no less than 214 are Passeres. Amongst these, as 

 might be expected, the characteristic genera Montifrinyilla, 

 Emberiza, Otocorys, P hylloscopus , Saxicola, and Accentor 

 are well represented. Three species of Podoces, one of Lepto- 

 jmcile, and one of Chimarrhornis* , all types peculiar to this 

 subdivision of the Palsearctic avifauna, were met with. Hiero- 

 falco milvipes is now recognized as a valid species, distinct 

 from H. sacer. 



We have, however, one fault to find with the volume. 

 This is that there is no explicit distinction made in it between 

 the species pertaining to the Yarkand avifauna and those 

 belonging only to Kashmir and the rest of the Indian terri- 

 tory traversed by the Expedition on its way up. At first sight 

 one would naturally suppose that members of the families 

 Megalsemidte, Indicatoridae, and Psittacidse, being registered 

 in the present list, are found in Yarkand. But this is by no 

 means the case. On inspecting the exact localities, which 

 are in every case properly stated, it will be observed that 

 Indicator xanthonotus, MegalcEma marshallorum, and Palee- 

 ornis schisticeps were met at places in Kashmir or Ladakh, 

 and not in Yarkand. It would, in our opinion, have been 

 much better to have arranged the Cis-Himalayan and Trans- 

 Himalayan specimens under two different heads, and thus to 

 have avoided all risk of making confusion between two very 

 different ornithogeographic areas. At any rate " Kashmir " 

 or " Ladakh " should have been added after the localities in 

 the Trans-Himalayan district. A still better plan would 

 have been to show the track of the Expedition on a map, and 

 thus indicate the localities exactly. Some of them, as given 

 in the present work, are not to be found in any atlas. 



* Dr. Sliarpe now writes this name " Ch(p)nnrrhornls,'^ which is incor- 

 rect, the derivation being ^f t^f'/'pos, a broolv, in Latin chimarrhm. 



