262 By Mountain, Lake, and Plain 



due to the better feeding than that they were 

 accustomed to in their desert home. In both 

 cases, of course, there is a large admixture of 

 other than Arab blood, especially in the female 

 line. Another way in which the curious family 

 resemblance between the English thoroughbred 

 and the Turkoman may be more than skin deep, 

 is by reason of the strain in the former of the 

 sire known as the Byerly Turk. I believe it is 

 not known whence this horse came, but seeing 

 a picture of him in a recent ' Field,' I could 

 not help being struck by the likeness he bore 

 to the Turkoman race. It is possible, if not 

 probable, that he came from this country. 



To any one with leisure to spend a few days 

 after small game, the green Gurgan plain offers 

 many attractions. Sand grouse, mostly the 

 Imperial variety, are often seen in small flocks, 

 while later on in December, Majors Sykes and 

 Watson report having seen the pintailed variety 

 coming to water in countless swarms. There 

 are also to be seen great numbers of the lesser 

 bustard. 1 The latter are quite as wary as their 

 bigger relatives, and though it was a common 

 sight to see hundreds in the air and scores run- 

 ning along the ground in front of us at a very 



1 Otis tetrax. 



