AVES. 75 



No. 1777. Yarkand, May 23, 1874.— Length 7 inches, wing 3*4 tail 2-8, tarsus 1-05 ; 

 expanse 10*7; bill from front 0*5, from gape 0-77. Iris sulphur-yellow; bill dark 

 horny above and at tip of lower mandible, pale fleshy at base ; wings reach within 1*7 

 inch of end of tail. "Bulbul" {TurU), A beautiful songster, of which I got two 

 nests and saw several others in gardens. Begins to lay about the middle of May. 



Under the date of the 24th of May, when the expedition was at Yarkand, Dr. Stoliczka's 

 *Diary ' has the following note : — "Got the nest of the Bulbul: it is very plentiful in the gardens. 

 In one I got three nests with from four to five eggs ; in one nest they had nearly fully-developed 

 young ; in others the eggs were almost fresh. The nest is on a tree or bush at from four to 

 seven feet above the ground; it is a regular Sylvia's nest, round, regularly cup-shaped, made 

 outside of coarse grass and thin dry twigs, inside of thin grass interwoven with horse-hair. 

 It is If inch deep, and 2f inches in inner diameter, perfectly round. Eggs dirty greenish 

 with dull greenish spots, and rounded, with more confluent dull dark blotches round the 

 thicker end. 



Dr. Scully gives a good account of the nesting of this species, which, he says, " arrives 

 about the neighbourhood of Yarkand in May, and probably migrates about September ; it is 

 never seen in the country during the winter. It has a beautiful and melodious song, and is 

 hence called by the Yarkandis ' BulbuL' " 



Colonel Biddulph writes :—" This was not a winter bird, but on our return from the 

 Pamir we found it about Yarkand in May, where it had already commenced to breed. It 

 was very common about Karghalik. It is a beautiful songster. It is tame, and comes about 

 habitations. It is a bush- and tree-haunting bird, but it is never seen on the ground." 



149. Sylvia cinerea. 



Sylvia cinerea (Bechst.) ; Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. p. 65 (1873) ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. v. p. 8 

 (1881) ; Bidd. Ibis, 1881, p. Q7 ; Homeyer & Tancre, MT. orn. Ver. Wien, 1883, p. 84; Gates, 

 Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, i. p. 395 (1889). 



Sylvia rufa, Bodd. ; Dresser, Ibis, 1876, p. 79 ; Scully, Str. F. 1881, p. 450. 



No. 748. Lukung, September 19, 1873. 



A young bird fresh moulted into winter plumage. 



150. Sylvia nana. 



Sylvia nana (H. & E.) ; Blanf. East. Persia, ii. p. 178 (1876) ; Dresser, Ibis, 1876, p. 80 ; Seebohm, 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mus. v. p. 26 (1881) ; Sbarpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. (2) Zool. v. pt. 3, p. 71 (1889) \ 

 Gates, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, i. p. 396 (1889). 



Atraphornis aralensis (Eversm.) ; Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. pp. 65, 124 (1873) ; Zarudn. Ois. Transcasp. 

 p. 43 (1885) ; Menzbier, Ibis, 1885, p. 354. 



Sylvia aralensis, Prjev. in Rowley's Orn. Misc. ii. p. 170 (187! 



/ . 



No. 828. Shahidula, Octoher 20, 1873.— Length 5 inches. Iris golden yellow; bill 

 brownish, pale underneath ; feet pale yellow with a faint greenish tinge. 



151. Sylvia aefinis. 



Sylvia affinis, Blyth; Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1880, p. 59; Bidd. Ibis, 1881, p. Q7 ; Scully, t. c. p. 450; 

 Seebohm, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. v. p. 19 (1881) ; Zarudn. Ois. Transcasp. p. 41 (1885) ; Scully, 

 J. A. S. Beng. Ivi. p. 80 (1887) ; Gates, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, i. p. 397 (1889). 



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