106 A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY 
oun in the afternoon, but was not fortunate enough to 
come across the bird in question. [mn my walk I saw the 
Kestrel, Kite, Crow (culminatus), Tree Sparrow, Crested Lark, 
Rinedove, Swallow, Swift, Wagtail (Personata), and Hoopoe ; 
and also Cyanecula suecica, Sylvia curruca, Saxicola isabellina, 
Savicola deserti, and a bird which I believe to be Pratincola 
indica, and which is called by the Yarkandis Jingsa. 
9th—.Sulik Aziz Langar.—Sky quite overcast this morning, 
with a considerable dust haze, and a northerly wind blowing. 
A few drops of rain fell in the morning and evening, and, 
during the day, great dust clouds were seen floating away 
towards the direction of Sanju. The road from Koshtak lay 
over a flattish sandy plain all the way ; and in this desert I saw 
a couple of Podoces Hendersoni, of which I managed to bag 
one. Sawicola deserti is tolerably numerous near the bushes 
fringing the stream of this oasis; and Lanius arenarius, Upupa 
epops, Cuculus canorus (young birds of the year,) Passer mon- 
tanus and Galerita magna, are common about the little cultiva- 
tion that is to be seen here. In the afternoon I also saw several 
Kites (M. melanotis), two or three Kestrels, a pair of Hypotri- 
orchis subbuteo which had a nest containing two very young 
birds, in an Eleagnus tree; and numbers of Swifts (Cypselus 
acuticauda °) 
10th.—Sanju.—Last night a fair amount of water came down 
in the Sulik Aziz or “ precious water” stream (which was pre- 
viously dry) to the great satisfaction of the family living at 
the oasis; rain must have fallen on the hills during the 
night. 
On leaving our camp at Langar we ascended at once to the 
undulating sandy plateau which lies between that oasis and the 
Sanju Valley. In the early morning we had a good view of 
the hills, several fine snow-capped peaks being seen away to 
the west, and the sky was of a beautiful deep blue color, with 
large cumuli floating along, every now and then obscuring the 
sun. The first bird 1 saw on the desert was Sazicola deserti, in 
fair numbers. <A little further on we came upon the Horned 
Lark (Otocoris penicillata) in considerable numbers. Many of 
the birds were quite young, and it seems probable that the 
species had bred in the locality at an elevation of 6,200 feet 
above the sea. After 8 A.m. the weather became very hot, 
and there was a great glare from the white colored sand. 
Going along I saw altogether four Podoces Hendersoni; they 
came down to the path to pick up the horse dung, in the way 
I described before, and I managed to shoot two of the 
birds, after a few exciting runs. The last four miles or so of 
the desert, the road lay through numerous sand hillocks, and 
