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BIRD NOTES BY THE WAY IN KASHMIR. 



BY 



Major H. A. F. MAGRATH, 



A short trip, much favoured of tourists in Kashmir in July and August, 

 and one which has perhaps often been described, is that from Pahlgam, 

 the well known camping resort in the Liddar Valley, to Sonemurg in the 

 Sind Valley via the Yem Her Pass (14,000 feet). To the field naturalist or 

 ornithologist, who undertakes it for the first time, this trip is full of inte- 

 rest, for, except in the vicinity of the pass, the parts he traverses are 

 perhaps the most " birdie" bits in Kashmir. Among my various rambles 

 in Kashmir this year (1911) this was perhaps the most enjoyable. 



My leave did not commence till the middle of July and when I arrived 

 in the Liddar Valley the breeding season was approaching its close. 

 Owing to the absence of rain or storms of any severity this summer the 

 season appeared to be a most successful one and young fledglings were 

 to be seen everywhere. Warblers {Phylloscopi and Acanthopneuste) simply 

 swarmed in the forests and many other kinds of birds were in great abund- 

 ance, notably the following species : — 



The Crested Black Tit {Lopophanes melanolopJius). 



The Himalayan Whistling-Thrush {Myiophoneus teinminchi) . 



The Kashmir Wren {Anorthura neglectci). 



The Himalayan Tree-Creeper {Cevthia liimalaxjana) . 



Brook's Nuthatch (Sifta kashmiriensis). 



The Sooty Flycatcher {Hemichelidon sibirica). 



The Whitecapped Redstart {Chimarrhornis leucocephalus) , 



The Plumbeous Redstart {Rhyacornis fuliyinosis) , 



The Dark Grey Bushchat [Oreicola ferrea). 



The Indian Bushchat {Pratincola maura). 



The Eastern Meadow Bunting {Emberiza stracheyi). 



Hodgsons Pied Wagtail (Motacilla hodysoni). 



The Himalayan Pied Woodpecker {Dendrocopus Mmalayensis). 



The Common Sandpiper {Totaniis liypoleucus) . 

 Pahlgam itself is full of bird-life in summer and there were many induce- 

 ments to halt so I stayed here till past the middle of August. On the 

 Liddar stream at this place I was fortunate in coming across the Ibis-bill 

 {Ibidorhynchus struthersi), a bird new to me. There were four or five 

 frequenting a shingly bit of the river bed below the visitors camping 

 ground which 1 felt svire were a pair with a fully fledged brood. If hatched 

 in May the young would have been, at most, fully grown by the time I met 

 with them. In habits the Ibis-bill differs little from the Sandpipers and 

 allied waders, but in some it approaches the plovers. In the evenings they 

 were often to be seen feeding and probing for worms on the short grass by 

 the river during which they would run for a few steps and then stop much 



