352 THE BIRDS OF GILGIT. 



side with soft bits of decayed wood, so as to look like the bark 

 of a tree. 



170.— Linaria brevirostris, Gould. (751 bis). 



Since I left Gilgit Dr. Scully writes : — " How on earth did 

 you miss this bird ? I have preserved over sixty specimens, 

 and have left off shooting it. It is one of the very commonest 

 birds about now (January)/' 



As this is a bird I know well, having procured many speci- 

 mens further eastward, it is hardly possible that I should have 

 missed it, had it been as common as Dr. Scully says in the 

 two preceding winters. I should be more inclined to regard 

 this as an instance of the changes that take place in the 

 migrations of birds owing to increase or decrease in the seve- 

 rity of the winter season. 



171. —Linaria cannabina, Lin. (751 ter). 



Fifteen or sixteen specimens were procured in January and 

 February 1878, when the winter was an exceptionally severe 

 one ; and many more were seen. They were generally in small 

 flocks of four or five, and rather difficult to approach, keeping 

 on open stony places. They are very restless birds, and 

 constantly take short flights, uttering a twittering note. A 

 specimen was apparently secured in Sind during the same winter 

 (vide Stray Feathkrs, Vol. VII., p. 122). Mr. Hume, speak- 

 ing of the specimen in question, says that, as far as plumage 

 is concerned, it is absolutely identical with European speci- 

 mens. This is not the case with these, which are all markedly 

 paler and with more white about them than three English 

 specimens I have compared them with. In the English spe- 

 cimens the white edgings to the primaries, which, when the 

 wing is closed, form a conspicuous bar less than half inch long, 

 in these form a patch 1£ inch in length. All the primaries 

 are margined with white to the tip, whereas in the English 

 specimens none are. The centre tail feathers, which in the 

 English bird have very faint pale margins, in these have a 

 broad margin of snowy white for half the web. 



The large amount of white on the upper tail-coverts, and 

 the broad white margins to all the tail-feathers, are very con- 

 spicuous when the bird is flying. In size, also, they differ 

 from the English specimens, the wing of several of the males 

 being fully 3£ inches, and the tail 2£ inches. 



Dr. Scully writes that they have been common during the 

 present winter, though duriDg the winter of 1879-80 none 

 were seen. 



