496 Mr. N. B. Kinnear on the Birds collected [Ibis, 



to birds lie had to make collections in all branches of Zoology 

 and Botany, and at the same time act as Medical Officer to 

 the Expedition. 



With the exception of a few freshly-moulted birds obtained 

 in the autumn, all the specimens are in a very worn and 

 faded state of plumaoe^ which renders identification a matter 

 of some ditficulty in certain forms. 



The collection is of considerable interest, as it is from a 

 district of which we know nothing, though it is possible 

 Hodgson's native collectors may have penetrated near to it 

 in Nepal, but if they had actually hunted on the plains of 

 Tibet surely the Brown Ground-( /hough, Tibetan Skylark, 

 or Elwes's Shore-Lark would have been known to Hodgson. 



The nearest point on the east where any collections have 

 been made is Khamba Dzoiig, at which place the Tibet 

 Mission, under Sir Francis Younghusband, spent about 

 two and a half mouths. Colonel H. J. Walton, I.M.S., the 

 naturalist and medical officer to the Mission, collected 

 assiduously and published the results of his observations on 

 the birds of southern Tibet in 'The Ibis' for 190G. Colonel 

 F. M. Bailey, who was for several years British Trade Agent 

 at Gyantse, made some interesting notes on the breeding- 

 birds in that part, which ho published in the ' Journal of the 

 Bombay Natural Histor}^ Society.' To both these writers 

 constant reference is made, and their notes have been of great 

 service in preparing this paper. Mention must also be made 

 of Blanford's paper on the Zoology of Sikkim in the Journal 

 of the Asiatic Society of Bengjil. 



On the western side no birds have been observed or col- 

 lected nearer than the Kumaon-Tibet border, where Dr. T. G. 

 Longstatl" shot a few specimens while on a mountain-climbing 

 trip. The higher valleys of Garhwal have been worked, 

 chiefly during the nesting-season, by Messrs. S. L. Why m per 

 and B. B. Osmaston, and their observations recorded in the 

 Bombay Journal. Stoliczka wrote a useful paper on the birds 

 of the Sutlej Valley, Lahoul, and Ladak ; and the western 

 border of Tibet has been explored by many travellers and 



