BIRD NOTES BY THE WAY IN KASHMIR. .547' 



one, it commences with the aforementioned syllable " tew " uttered in a 

 loud and melodious tone followed by a rapidly repeated metallic trisyllabic 

 note like " tyatlinka-tlinka." The Orange Bulfinch must be a late breeder 

 for a male I shot on 19th August had the testes as big as No. 2 shot and I 

 almost invariably found these birds in pairs. On one occasion only was 

 their a young bird with a pair. Colonel Ward's Collectors, I believe, took 

 eggs and found nests late in August. I generally met with this species 

 just in or on the edges of forests and often feeding on the catkins of the 

 Himalayan birches. 10,500 feet was the maximum elevation at which 

 they were seen but they probably wander on occasions up to tree limit. 



The Red-browed Finch {Callacanthis burtoni) was not uncommon between 

 9,000 and 10,000 feet at Liddarwat and at the same elevation in the Sind 

 Valley. The position accorded this genus in the family is somewhat 

 puzzling to comprehend. In the straightness of the bill and to some 

 extent in plumage it may have affinities with Carduelis, but in the thick- 

 ness and heaviness of the former it certainly can have none, neither, as 

 far as my observations go, has it in habits. To me the latter appear more 

 akin to those of the Grosbeaks. It hops about the forest undergrowth 

 picking up seeds in just the same assiduous manner as The Black and 

 Yellow Grosbeak {Pycnorhampus icteroides) . But from Pycnorhampus as 

 well as Carduelis and unlike most other members of the family it differs 

 in being, as far as I have noted, solitary or non-gregarious, for I invariably 

 met with these finches in pairs or singly. Forest and often dark forest 

 appears to suit their tastes and in such situations I generally found them 

 feeding on seeds of a succulent undergrowth and not particularly resenting 

 my presence. When startled they flew into the nearest tree and remained 

 not at all shy, eyeing one inquisitively. 



A bird shot at Liddarwat on 20th August had the testes as big as No. 2 

 shot. This was one of a pair, and the behaviour of the female on her mate 

 being killed, was precisely that of a female crossbill {Loxia curvirostra 

 scotica) which lost her mate in similar circumstances in Scotland last year. 

 She hovered over the spot reiterating a loud and very plaintive double 

 note resembling the syllables " tweeyeh ' (the 1st syllable pitched highest) 

 and following me for some yards in the branches overhead after I had 

 picked up and carried away her dead mate. 



The ordinary call note of this species is a loud and pretty " twee, " 

 occasionally a loud double song note like the syllables " iih-eh " (the second 

 pitched a ^ tone higher) is uttered. At Sonemurg one day after watching 

 and listening to a male, who shortly disappeared among the branches, I shot 

 a missel thrush {Turdus viscivorous), which not being kille doutright, uttered 

 loud screams as it fell fluttering down the forest hillside. Immediately a 

 lied-browed Finch, undoubtedly the one I had been observing, together 

 with another, probably its mate, appeared in a tree overhead and both utter- 



