OF EASTERN TURKESTAN. 205 
blackish above ; gular pouch, orange yellow ; irides, brownish 
grey; legs, feet, and claws, black. 
Juv. Tungtash, 4th August.—Length, 52°75 ; expanse, 55°8 ; 
tail, 7°7 ; tarsus, 2°] ; bill, from gape, 3°8 ; closed wings fall 
short of tail, 6-6 ; weight, 4tbs 5 0z. Bill grey horny, top of 
upper mandible black ; irides, grey ; gular pouch, orange yellow ; 
legs and feet, black ; claws, greyish black. 
This Cormorant is, I believe, a permanent resident in Kash- 
gharia—in the plains. The first specimen was obtained on the 
banks of the Yarkand river, near Tarim Langar. In_ the 
beginning of August I found these birds quite common at 
Tungtash, near Karghalik. They were then nearly always seen 
in parties of five, sitting on the top of a mud _ cliff—often 
thirty feet high—immediately overlooking the water below ; 
one of the party acting as sentinel. The favourite posts of the 
Cormorants could be easily recognised about the place : spots 
worn into a sort of dome shape by their tails, and always near 
the edge of the cliff. In sitting these birds rest on their feet and 
the stiff feathers of their tails ; the tail being spread out to form 
a sort of hollow half cone. When they fly the neck is stretched 
forward, like a goose. On one occasion I saw a Cormorant 
sitting near the water’s edye apparently watching intently 
for a fish; I shot the bird just as it rose, and it immediately 
dived into the water, reappearing again however in a few 
seconds as it was mortally wounded. 
Tbe Turki name for this Cormorant is Kara Ghaz, “the 
Black Goose.” 
On the Geographical distribution of the genus Pevicrocotus. 
By R. Bowpier S#aRrPe, £.L.S., F.E.S., &C. 
I believe that afew papers on the geographical distribution 
of Indian birds will be useful to the numerous field ornitholo- 
gists who are now working so vigorously in the cause of science 
in India and the adjacent countries, inasmuch as it will enable 
them to see what has been written (as far as I shall be able to 
collect the facts), and published on the subject. Here is, as it 
seems to me, a ground on which the field, and cabinet natura- 
list, can work hand in hand, to their mutual benefit ; and I 
shall be particularly obliged to any one who will endeavour to 
supplement the information here compiled respecting the range 
of the species of Pericrocotus ; and I may add that a few spe- 
cimens would be very gratefully received by me for the British 
Museum, where the Indian skins are not in very good condi- 
tion ! 
