2 PROCEEDINGS OP THE NATIONAL MUSEUM VOL. 77 



of the richest areas in the Province of Kansu. At the time of the visit of the 

 expedition in early June it was alive vpith birds of various kinds. 



Between Chung Wei and Lanchowfu the country is a semidesert, first of 

 sand and beyond I Teow Shan of dry earth and loess, almost entirely void 

 of wild life. 



Lanchowfu is the natural base of operations for all but the extreme edge 

 of the Province of Kansu. It lies on the Yellow River in a small fertile plain, 

 which is the first hospitable region to greet the traveler who approaches from 

 the north. It is poor, however, in bird and mammal life. 



The next region visited was the Tibetan border. Zoologically it falls into 

 two parts: (1) The high rolling plateau of grassland, which makes up most 

 of the Kokonor territory, and (2) the transition belt of mountains, wooded 

 guUeys, and little agricultural settlements, which separate the grassland from 

 Chinese loess country farther eastward. Birds and small mammals are abundant 

 in both types of country. Our march through the country was rapid and the 

 collection obtained, while varied, does not do full justice to the richness of 

 the region. 



The last district we visited, and in many ways the most interesting was the 

 range of mountains which lies south of the Tao River and forms the boundary 

 between Kansu and Szechwan. This range, the Minshan, runs east and west. 

 It is very high and rugged and has an abundant rainfall. Tibetan villages 

 exist in some of the valleys. Small mammals and birds are abundant. It 

 would repay intensive collecting over a long period of time.^ 



Though its principal activities were in another field, the expedi- 

 tion brought back an important collection of birds, including 502 

 specimens, from Inner Mongolia and Kansu, the skins having been 

 prepared bj a native collector. Apparently no new birds are in the 

 collection, as a number of explorers have more or less thoroughly 

 covered this country ornithologically, especially the Kussians, begin- 

 ning with Przewalski. The present list, however, adds definitely to 

 the knowledge of the geographic distribution of forms in a region 

 none too well known. 



While in Peking, packing up and making preparations for further 

 explorations, Wulsin's collector made a small collection of 147 skins 

 at the Eastern Tombs, about 80 miles northeast of Peking, in the 

 autumn and winter. These it is thought advisable to include in this 

 report, as the wildness of this region is being largely destroyed 

 and a record of the bird life, fragmentary as it is may prove useful 

 in the future. 



All of the above material has been generously presented to the 

 United States National Museum by the National Geographic Society. 

 It forms an important addition to our series and will prove of the 

 greatest usefulness, particularly since the Museum had little material 

 from Inner Mongolia or Kansu. Wliile, as mentioned, none of the 

 forms secured is apparently new to science, many of them are ex- 

 tremely interesting and were not hitherto represented in our series. 



I Also consult : The Road to Wong Ye Fu, by Frederick R. Wulsin. National Geograpliic 

 Magazine, vol. 49, 1926, pp. 197-234. 



