648 JOURNAL, BOMB Al NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol XXI. 



ing the "uh-eh" note — a denunciation which made me feel duly contrite ! 



In flight this finch reminds one of Loxia. The freshly killed female has 

 the supercilium a bright orange yellow, borders to the anterior feathers 

 of the occiput, dull orange yellow and the forehead a dingy yellow. 



Striking up north-west from Liddarwat to the Yem Her Pass the hill- 

 sides are devoid of trees, but the open slopes from 10,000 feet and over are 

 carpeted with flowers of various kinds and hues, docks, thistle and weeds, 

 etc. Among this luxurious and knee-deep herbage large parties of Tickell's 

 Willow Warbler {Phylloscofus affinis) were to be seen feeding on the 

 numerous small flies and aphides adhering to the plant heads. 



From 11,000 to 13,500 feet. The Blue-fronted Redstart {Ruticilla frontalis) 

 was not uncommon. This Redstart appeared partial to rocky moraines 

 near streams. It does not shiver* the tail, but flirts it vertically once or 

 twice like Chimarrhornis leucoceplialus, though not so vigorously as the latter. 



A greyish robinlike bird seen in the distance on a moraine was, I have 

 little doubt, a Himalayan Ruby throat {Calliope pectoralis). 



The presence of the Grey Wagtail {Motacilla melanops) at 12,000 feet 

 and over surprised me. This graceful wagtail was ubiquitous and abun- 

 dant in Kashmir this year. A habit of the species, noticed both in 

 Scotland and the Himalayas, is feeding, at times, in Avoodland and dry 

 places often some hundreds of yards from water. 



Below the Yem Her Pass, on the Liddar side, the stream issuing from a 

 small glacier runs over a flat stretch and has formed a marshy tarn. OS' 

 this at 13,500 feet I put up a small wisp of green sandpipers (Totanus 

 ocropus) and a greenshank {T. glottis). 



Numerous Marmots {Arctomys caudatus) had their burrows in the hill- 

 sides round this tarn and the shrill criesf and strange aspect of these big 

 rodents were a source of vast excitement to my terrier. 



Once over the Pass the track after a steep drop runs along bare but 

 grassy hillsides and then descends through beautiful forest to the Sind 

 Valley. In the forest I found the Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga multi- 

 punctata), common as indeed it was all along to Sonemurg. This bird, 

 contrary to the impression it first gave me in the Hazara Hills, is not at all 

 shy, and is often most inquisitive. The note is harsh and magpie-like and 

 could be well imitated by two or three rapid twirls of a child's wooden toy 

 ratchet. It usually affects forest, though I have seen a pair well in 

 the open. It however has to come into fairly open parts to feed on the 

 walnuts that grow along the Sind river and to which it is partial, 



• The only species of this subfamily that I am acquainted with that vibrate the 

 ta.il aie ButicillaphcBnicurus and R. rufive7itr is. It would be interesting- to have 

 a list of the members of the BziticilUnce which shiver or vibrate as opposed to 

 flirt and wag the tail. 



t It can hardly be correct to talk of the Marmots " whistle" as so many writers 

 do. A whistling- Mammal, apart from man, somehow does not sound congruous ! 



