No. 16. — Sonic Birds from, the Highlands of Siberia. 

 By Outram Bangs. 



In the summer of 1912 Dr. Theodore Lyman of Harvard University 

 brought to pass a long-planned trip to the Altai Mountains, Siberia 

 and Mongolia. The excursion combined hunting and collecting, and 

 the material gathered has been shared between the United States 

 National Museum and the Museum of Comparative Zoology, the 

 mammals to Washington and the birds and other animals to Cam- 

 bridge. Both museums have profited much by Dr. Lyman's gener- 

 osity, material from central Asia being among the chief desiderata of 

 each institution. 



On this trip Mr. N. Hollister, Assistant Curator of Mammals at 

 the U. S. National Museum, and Mr. Conrad Kein, a mountaineer 

 and hunter of long experience and great skill, accompanied Dr. Lyman. 

 They trapped, shot, and prepared the smaller animals while Dr. 

 Lyman devoted most of his time to a successful search for the great 

 sheep and other large game mammals. 



No less than 287 beautifully prepared bird skins and almost exactly 

 the same number of mammals were made by the indefatigable Hollister 

 who worked in his tent literally day and night upon the material 

 Kein shot and trapped. Only five weeks were spent in actual collect- 

 ing and the results are astonishing. 



Mr. Hollister in three short papers l has described the new mammals 

 taken by the party, and a complete list will be published later. 



A good deal has already been written about the birds of the Altai 

 Mountains, but it appears that here, as well as in other remote parts 

 of the world, there is yet opportunity for close work by skilful field 

 naturalists; three of the birds taken prove to belong to undescribed 

 forms. 



The birds were all taken at three collecting stations. The first of 

 these, the Tchegan-Burgazi Pass, is in a uniform desert mountain 

 region without trees except for a few scattering larches in sheltered 

 canons. The main camp here was at an altitude of 8,300 feet; about 

 this and up the surrounding peaks to 12,000 feet collecting was 

 carried on from July 1 to July 26. 



One day's collecting only, July 28, was spent at the second camp in 



1 Smithsonian misc. coll., Nov. 29, 1912, 60, p. 1-6. Proc. Biol. soc. Washington. 

 Dec. 24, 1912, 25. p. 181-184; Jany. 18. 1913, 26, p. 1-4. 



