Cashmere and the Dras District. 219 



any of the Common Starling, as mentioned by Leith- Adams, 

 On the water were several flocks of the White-eyed Duck 

 {Fuligula nyroca), also some Teal, but most of the Ducks 

 have now flown northward to breed. The lake is very shal- 

 low and dotted with green islands, on which are small home- 

 steads with lean cattle and sorry-looking horses grazing 

 about. Tall poplars stud tlie landscape, and many pear-trees, 

 now in bloom. The scenery reminded me of Holland and 

 Denmark ; only that huge snow-clad mountains bound the 

 view, to which the shores of the lake gradually slope up. 

 During the passage on the lake I saw a solitary Brown-headed 

 Gull ; and a Wagtail with a brilliant yellow breast, which I 

 made out to be MotaciUa melanope. I also noticed a Bald- 

 headed Eagle, and that very beautiful Magpie, Urocissa 

 flavirostris. 



On the 22nd of April I began the march up the Scind 

 valley, seeing very few birds on the way. At Sonamurg, two 

 marches from the Zogila pass, I saw several White-capped 

 Redstarts [RuticiUa leucocephala) ,dl%o flocks of the Cinnamon- 

 headed Sparrow [Passer cinnamomeus) . At the foot of the 

 pass were some Choughs [Fregilus himalayanus) ; also several 

 pair of Corviis culminatus, which flew down and settled on the 

 stones round the camp, on the look-out for any thing they 

 could get. 



April 2oth. Crossed the pass in a heavy snow-storm ; at 

 the summit my servant caught a Quail [Coturnix communis) 

 quite exhausted. Flocks of the Snow Pigeon {Columba leu- 

 conota) were feeding on the patches of vegetation from which 

 the snow had melted. Camped at Mataiun, a group of filthy 

 hovels on the Dras river. Amongst the birds seen were the 

 Himalayan Chough, Snow Pigeon, Bock Thrush, and several 

 Partridges [Caccabis chukar), a brace of which I shot. 



April 26th. Marched from Mataiun to Dras, where there 

 is a small fort with a Sikh garrison. It is a wild-looking 

 land : a great pass, with a river, half-choked with big boulders, 

 rushing through it ; around are lofty snow-clad mountains, 

 and here and there on the lower hills in the foreground some 

 flat-roofed Tartar houses, with a few half-starved cattle and 



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