Birds of Southern Tibet. 251 



Nos. 1846. ? adult ; 1847. S adult. Gauthong, Clmmbi 

 Valley, 12,000 feet, Jan. 16, 1904. 



No. 1967. S adult. Gyantse, 12,000 feet, June 22, 1904. 



Common during the summer on all the streams, from 

 Gyantse almost to Lhasa. The birds frequent shingly 

 beaches ; they are not very active, and remain motionless 

 for long periods by the edge of the water. The general 

 effect of their plumage harmonizes very closely with their 

 surroundings and renders them difficult to detect. When 

 flushed, they fly slowly, with an undulating flight, uttering 

 loud Plover-like cries. By May they are found in pairs, 

 but they appear to be late breeders. The reproductive 

 organs of a male bird shot at Gyantse on June 22nd were 

 very little developed. The birds — both sexes, I believe — 

 frequently sit in " sham nests, " small depressions which 

 they scratch out among the pebbles. I noticed this habit 

 in a pair at Gyantse at the beginning of May, and. I thought 

 at first that the hen was going to lay eggs. I kept this pair 

 under observation uutil the beginning of July : by that time 

 there were about a dozen of these depressions on the small 

 island that the birds frequented, but I am almost certain that 

 there were no eggs. 



I saw four or five Ibis-bills in January at Lingmathang, 

 an open plain in the Clmmbi Valley at an altitude of about 

 12,000 feet. They spent the middle of the day dozing on 

 the banks of a small river, but became more lively towards 

 the evening, when I found them running about and feeding 

 on the open grass-land a hundred yards or more away from 

 the water, and frequently uttering a loud, melodious, 

 whistling note, quite different from their harsh alarm-notes. 



109. TOTANUS CALIDRIS. 



Totanus calidris (Linn.) ; Blanf., Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, 

 iv. p. 264; Sharpe, Sci. Result. Yark. Miss., Aves, p. 140; 

 Berez. & Bianchi, Aves Exped. Potan. Gan-su, p. 4. 



a. ? . Khamba Jong, 15,200 feet, Sept. 14, 1903. 



No. 2009. S • Lhasa, 12,200 feet, Aug. 18, 1904. 



No. 2014. 3 . „ „ Aug. 21, 1904. 



