1881.] DR. J. SCULLY ON THK MAMMALS OF GILGIT. 197 



perceptible. Again, 0. .vanfhop/iri/s cannot be the young of O.rylaLes 

 madac/ascariensia, because of the different scutellation of the tarsi, 

 while, moreover, we have the young of tL'a latter bird in the British 

 Museum, and it differs only slightly from the old.] 



C. Oxylabes madagascariensis (Gm.). 



7. OXYLABES CINEREICEPS, Sp. nOV. 



Olive-green, with narrow pale shaft-lines ; wings and tail olive, 

 the edges to the primaries olive-yellow ; head and nape slaty grey, 

 lores dull white ; cheeks and sides of face creamy white ; ear-coverts 

 slaty grey ; throat and fore neck white ; rest of under surface of 

 body yellow, olive on the sides ; under tail-coverts olive-yellow ; 

 thighs olive-brovcn ; under wing-coverts olive-brown washed with 

 fawn-colour; edge of wing yellow ; quills light brown below, ful- 

 vescent along the edge of the inner web. Total length .t"6 inches, 

 culmen 0'55, wing 2*75, tail 2"3, tarsus 0"8."). 



Hab. Fianarantsoa, Madagascar (^Rev. D. Cowan). 



Notwithstanding the difference in the colouring of the two species, 

 0. cinereiceps seems to be strictly congeneric with 0. madagasca^ 

 riensis. 



5, On tho Mammals of Gilgit. By John Scully. 



[Eeceived January 6, 1881.] 



The tract of country to be referred to in this paper may be 

 roughly defined as the basin of the Indus river within the limits 

 35"" to 36' 30' N. lat. and 74° to 75° E. long.; it forms the north- 

 western portion of the territories of the Maharaja of Kashmir. My 

 observations refer principally to the Mammalian fauna of Gilgit, a 

 district which lies nearly due north of Srinagar, the capital of Kash- 

 mir, at a distance of about 230 miles by road ; but I also include 

 the Astor valley, and Nagar, Hunza, and Yassin, three small States 

 which adjoin Gilgit, and ai'e tributary to Kashmir. ]\Iy limits are 

 — on the south the Dorikun or Burzil Pass at the head of the Astor 

 valley, on the east the great bend of the Indus near Ilaramosh, on 

 the north the principality of Hunza, and on the west Yasin. 



All this country is highly mountainous, and is intersected by nume- 

 rous narrow valleys, the streams of which are tributary to the Indus. 

 The lowest valleys are about 4500 feet above sea-level, while the 

 mountain ridges are of great height, with peaks from 15,000 to over 

 26,000 feet high. The lower parts of the valleys are very barren 

 and arid, .their sides being formed by steep bare walls of gneiss ; the 

 cultivated portions are scattered and of small extent, on terraces of 

 the river-alluvium high above the main streams, or more generally 

 on alluvial fans at the mouths of lateral ravines. Above 8000 feet 

 the scenery changes greatly, and grass-covered downs and luxuriant 

 pine-forests al)ound ; higher up still we find the region of snow- 

 covered peaks and mighty glaciers. 



