68 SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 



lots of low thorny bushes in this valley, and in these we found the birds in pairs. They were 

 pretty numerous, but very difficult to shoot, as on our approach they concealed themselves. 

 I heard no song. A few days later we found them immediately below the Sanju Pass, on the 

 northern side, in similar jungle at about 11,000 feet. We also saw this species, I am sure, on 

 our way up to the Pamir in similar localities at about the same elevations. A youn^ bird 

 was certainly procured at Leh in June, but with this exception we saw none elsewhere on our 

 way back." 



" This pretty little species," writes Dr. Scully, " was met with in Eashgharia in August 

 along the banks of the Karakash Eiver, at Pilataghach, Toghrasu, Oibuk, Shahidula, 

 Balakchi, and Gulgun Shah, at elevations of from 10,800 to 13,000 feet. The birds were 

 numerous and continually hopping about or flitting from place to place in the tamarisk, 

 buckthorn, and Hololachne bushes growing on the banks of the river ; they uttered a pretty 

 loud, sweet chirping cry. I do not know which was most difficult, to see these birds, to shoot 

 them, or to find them when shot, in the dense bushes which they frequent." 



Genus PANURUS. 



135. Panurus biaemicus. 



CalamopMlus biarmicus (L.) ; Scully, Str. F. iv. p. 154 (1876) ; Homeyer & Tancre, MT. orn. Ver. Wien 

 1883, p. 85. ' 



Panurus barbatus, Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. p. QQ (1873). 



Panurus biarmicus, Dresser, Ibis, 1876, p. 94; Prjev. in Rowley's Orn. Misc. ii. p. 191 (1877). 

 CalamopMlus barbatus, Radde, Ornis, iii. p. 476 (1887). 



No. 935, 6 . Oi-tograk, November 4, 1873.— Length 6-8 inches, wing 2*45, tail 3*4; 



expanse 7-5. Iris golden ; bill reddish yellow ; feet black. 

 No. 936, $. Oi-tograk, November 4, 1873.— Length 6*85 inches, wing 2-5, tail 3*5, 



tarsus 0-9; expanse 7*07. Iris yellow; bill dusky yellow; feet black; wings reach 



within 2*75 inches of end of tail. 

 Nos. 937, 939. Oi-tograk, November 4, 1873. 

 Nos. 1002, 1003. Yarkand, November 11, 1873. 



No. 1015. Yarkand, November 13, 1873. '' Kuckace '' (Yarkand) ; '' Cachee " (Kokan). 

 Nos. 1016, 1022, 1023. Yarkand, November 13, 1873. 

 Nos. 1036, 1037, 1038, 1040, 1041. Yarkand, November 22, 1873. 



All young birds of the last season, No. 1040 having still some black streaks on the 



back. 

 Nos. 1081, 1087. Yarkand, November 28, 1873. 

 No. 1235. Maralbashi, January 1874. 

 Nos. 1713, 1716. Yarkand, May 22, 1874. 



Dr. Stoliczka states in his ' Diary ' that he shot the first specimen of this bird, which he did 

 not know, just as he was leaving Oi-tograk, in the high reed-grass, where it was feeding on 

 the seeds of the latter. He got it again in November near Yarkand in swampy ground. It 

 is rather interesting, in view of the affinities set forward for the Eeedling by Blyth and 

 others, that Dr. Stoliczka, in the later pages of his diary, refers to it as the " new Emheriza ! " 



''CalamopMlus biarmicus;' writes Colonel Biddulph, '^we first got between Sanju 

 and Karghalik at Oi-tograk in November, in high reed-grass, in bush-jungle, near water, 



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