AVES. 71 



No. 999, ad. Tarkand, November 12, 1873.— Length 7*5 inches, wing 3-57, tail 3*2, 

 tarsus 0*95 ; expanse 11*2 ; bill from front 0*45, from gape 0-8 ; length of foot 1*55. Iris 

 brown ; bill dusky brown above, pale at base of lower mandible ; feet brownish black. 



No. 1692, ad. East of Ighiz Yar, May 19, 1874.— Got four eggs on a pear-tree 10 feet 

 above ground. 



No. 1693, ad. Kizil, May 19, 1874. — Got two eggs on a tree about 15 feet above ground. 



Nos. 1739, 1745, ad. Yarkand, May 15-20, 1874. 



No. 1839, ad. Kugiar, June 1, 1874. 



In his ^Diary ' Dr. Stoliczka has the following notes : — '' Kizil, May 19. Near a small house 

 and a few fields about ten miles east of Ighiz Yar I got the nest of this Lanius (shooting the 

 female) on a pear-tree, between branches about ten feet above the ground. The nest is 

 round, made of twigs outside, with some grass and cotton and old rags interwoven together. 

 There were four eggs in the nest, the young being nearly fully developed. At Kizil I got 

 another nest high up on a tree, with two fresh eggs." On the 31st of May, 1874, he states 

 that he saw full-fledged young near Beshterek. 



Colonel Biddulph sends us a note : — '' I shot the first specimen, a solitary one, at Maral- 

 bashi in July. It was peculiarly common everywhere in the plains when we returned in 

 May." It is evidently this species, as Dr. Scully suspects, which was procured by Dr. Hen- 

 derson and called L. cristahis. Dr. Scully writes : — '' The Desert Shrike is very common in 

 the plains of Kashgharia, where it breeds. I obtained my first specimen of this species near 

 Yarkand on the 14th April, and from that date it was observed continuously up to the 15th 

 of August, when I saw the last of this Shrike north of the Chuchu Pass, at an elevation of 

 about 10,000 feet. It was not observed at all during the winter, and with the exception of 

 possibly a few stray stragglers, the bird no doubt migrates from Eastern Turkestan about 

 October, and this agrees exactly with the native account of the matter. The bird breeds in 

 May and June." Dr. Scully gives a full account of the eggs. 



Family AMPELID^. 

 Genus AMPELIS. 



141. Ampelis gaurulus. 



Ampelis garrulus, L. ; Dresser, Ibis, 1876, p. 188; Scully, Str. F. iv. p. 152 (1876); Prjev. in 

 Rowley^s Orn. Misc. ii. p. 272 (1877) ; Homeyer & Tancre, MT. orn. Ver. Wien, 1883, p. 88 ; 

 Sliarpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. x. p. 212 (1885). 



Bomby cilia garrula (L.) ; Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. p. 67 (1873). 



This species was only procured by Dr. Scully, who writes : — " This bird was purchased 

 for Mr. Shaw in the bazaar of Yarkand, where it was being carried about perched on a man's 

 finger. It appeared to be very quiet in confinement, and was never heard to utter any 

 sound. It soon died, however, and before we left Yarkand Mr. Shaw gave me the skin, as I 

 had not been able to procure a specimen. When alive the bird had a beautiful appearance : 

 its dense glossy feathers gave it rather the look of a perfect wax model than a living bird. 

 I heard from several sources that this species was common in the hills near Aksu, and I 

 also heard of its occurrence in Sarikol ; the bird is never seen in the plains of Eastern 



