102 <A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF QGILGIT. 
immature of this species; and I cannot agree with him that 
they constitute “a very remarkable race.” 
Adult male P. himalayensis differs from the adult male 
P. major in having the whole crown crimson, while the latter 
has only the occiput thus coloured, and in several other 
points; but the young males of these two species are very 
much alike, both having the whole crown crimson and the 
lower surface yellowish and slightly dark-streaked. The young 
birds, however, can be readily separated by the colour of the 
ear-coverts; in P. major this part is whitish throughout ; in 
_ P. himalayensis the anterior upper half of the same region, 
behind the eye, is dusky or blackish. 
40.—Gecinus squamatus, Vig. (170.) 
A permanent resident in the district, found in the lower 
valleys from November to May, and during the rest of the 
year at an elevation of about 9,000 feet. In six specimens 
the wings measured 6:4 to 6°6 inches; tails, 5 to 5:4; bill from 
gape, 1:77 to 2:1. The specimens mentioned by Captain 
Marshall as having the neck and back grey were probably 
birds about a year old, with the feathers worn and faded, and 
at the next moult would have assumed the usual green colour. 
A moulting female in my collection, shot on the 4th August, 
has the hind neck and upper back brownish grey; but a few 
new feathers, which have appeared on those parts, are quite 
green. Mr. Blanford, in his “ Zoology of Persia,” p. 135, 
describes a parallel stage of Gecinus viridis in a specimen which 
was scarcely mature (probably a bird of the preceding year) 
and with the plumage worn. 
41.—Iynx torquilla, Zin. (188.) 
The Wryneck is common from the middle of April to the 
first week in October. A male shot on the 22nd April had 
the irides hazel. In none of my specimens is there any trace 
of rufous on the underparts, as mentioned by Major Biddulph; 
the colour which prevades these parts to a variable extent is 
buff-yellow. 
42.—Cuculus canorus, Zin. (199.) 
The Common Cuckoo is a summer visitor, and is fairly 
common from the beginning of May to September. Some 
of my Gilgit specimens are rather small; but they are all 
doubtless referable to C. canorus. Two adult males have 
the wing 8°6 to 8°8 inches; four full-grown females have the 
wing 8:1 to 8:7; and two females in hepatic plumage have 
the wing 7'5 and 7°7. 
