218 THE AVIFAUNA OF KASHGAR IN WINTER. 



tan. Next to it are Otocoris penicillata and Alaudula pispoletta, 

 the latter a very good songster, rising in the air like a true lark. 

 It and G. magna are often caged. The favourite cage-bird of 

 this tribe is, however, Melanocorypha torquata. I had with great 

 difficulty procured a specimen in Yarkand by purchase, but as 

 a rule the people do not wish to part with the bird under two 

 or three tillas ; some would not accept an}' offer at all. I was 

 told that it occasionally arrived at Kashgar towards the end of 

 January, and hy carefully watching the time I was successful 

 in getting two specimens. The only true lark and by no means 

 common is arvensis or perhaps dulcivox. It is decidedly larger 

 than what is usually called triborhyncha, but there is a difference 

 of half-an-inch in the length of the wings between the two 

 sexes. It is said to come during the winter from Kokan. 

 Towards the end of January I got a few specimens of a beauti- 

 ful Montifringilla* grey, with a j-ellow spot on the breast. 

 The birds were only seen during a few da} r s. 



Of young birds I got a solitary specimen of what appears to be 

 Otis tetrax, a few Coturnix communis, and on a few occasions I 

 saw a large Pterocles, apparently arenarius, but neither of these 

 appear to be regular winter inhabitants : they are only stray 

 birds which remain in favourable localities. Phasianus Shaivi 

 is also, as a rule, got in the high grass in open waste ground. 

 A Circus, very like if not really cineraceusrf is very often seen 

 hunting over the fields, and Tinnunculus alaudarius is equally 

 common. Buteo ferox is, however, much rarer, and still more 

 so another species which is apparently Hodgson's plumipes. 

 I have seen only a single specimen of a large vulture, apparent- 

 ly fulvus, and adding the Noctua previously mentioned, a stray 

 Accipiter ?iisus, and Otus vulgaris in high grass and roosting 

 during the day in trees, we have about the complete list of 

 Raptor es which you may find in the neighbourhood of Kashgar. 

 Only on one occasion, Captain Biddulph shot a Merlin (Liihofalco 

 asalon) near Yarkand about the middle of November. 



Approaching the water-courses which intersect the fields in 

 all directions, and are, as a rule, lined with bushes and trees of 

 Eleagnus, one is sure to meet with Turdus atrogularis, which 

 feeds on Eleagnus berries. It is a common bird here during' the 

 winter, but leaves for the hills during the summer. A Menda,% 

 much like mandarina, is also tolerably common. 



Upupa epops looks after insects generally on paths between 

 the fields and on the sands ; not many of them, however, 

 remain here; it is more common about Yarkand. Among low 



* This I find from the specimens is Petronia stulta, Scop. — Ed. 

 t All the specimens preserved are cyaneus. — Ed. 



j This is M. vulgaris, Ray, quite identical, it seems to me, with numerous English 

 specimens that I have. 



