122 SECOND YARKAND MISSION. 



Mr. Hume first described this species, but afterwards, in the ' Game Birds of India 

 he came to the conclusion that it was not separable from C. chukor, the Trans-Himalayan 

 range of which he gives as '' spread throughout the northern ranges, the so-called Karakorum 

 or Kuen-luen, and right across Kashghar to the Tian Shan, throughout which it occurs." 

 On reviewing the series procured by Dr. Stoliczka, however, the uniformly pale tint of 

 the Central-Asian birds is very recognizable, and I think that it should be kept separate. 

 Mr. Ogilvie Grant tells me that he believes that a complete gradation in colour will be found 

 to exist between the Himalayan and the Yarkand Partridges, and he is inclined to regard the 

 two birds as climatic forms of the same species. 



Colonel Biddulph sends us the following note : — '' I shot one in some juno-le between 

 Kashghar and Maralbashi, and there were some also in the latter place, but they are not 

 very common in the Plains country. In all the Hills, however, south and west of Turkestan, 

 up to, at any rate, 12,000 feet, they are very common. In the valley between Panjah and 

 Sarhad in Wakhan they are specially abundant, and people hawk them." 



Dr. Henderson states that in Yarkand this Partridge swarms (wherever the rivers 

 debouch into the plains) over a belt of country some ten or fifteen miles in width. He gives 

 an account of their mode of capture. 



'' Chicore appear to abound," says Dr. Scully, "in all the hills which surround the plains 

 of Kashgharia on the north, west, and south. In the winter the birds seem to come down to 

 lower elevations than they frequent in summer. The Turki name for the Chicore is 

 ' KeUih: " 



Ten eggs of this species, out of one nest, were brought to Dr. Stoliczka at Beshterek on 

 the 31st of May. 



Genus COTURNIX. 

 79. COTTJRNIX COTUHNIX. 



Coturnix communis, Bonn.; Hume & Renders. Lahore to Yark. p. 285 (1873); Scully, Str. F. iv. 

 p. 184 (1876) ; Blanf. East. Persia, ii. p. 278 (1876); Dresser, Ibis, 1876, p. 323; Prjev. in Rowley ^s 

 Orn. Misc. ii. p. 424 (1877) ; Bidd. Ibis, 1881, p. 92 ; Scully, ibid. p. 588 ; Homeyer & Tancre, MT. 

 orn. Ver. Wien, 1883, p. 92; Scully, J. A. S. Beng. Ivi. p. 87 (1887). 



Coturnix vulgaris, Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. p. 68 (1873). 



Ortygion coturnix, Radde, Ornis, iii. p. 495 (1887). 



No. 1271, S . Kashghar, January 25, 1874.— Bill dull pale bluish ; feet pale yellow, claws 



violet ; iris hazel-brown. Length S'O inches, wing 4-5, tail 1*9, tarsus 1-2. 

 No. 1323. Kashghar, February 9, 1874. 



Colonel Biddulph writes :— '^ We shot this Quail in the plains of Turkestan in November 

 and January, and I heard them calling in May and June. We were told that at that season 

 they were very abundant there." Dr. Henderson procured a specimen on the 24th of Sep- 

 tember at the Karatagh Lake (13,500 feet). 



Dr. Scully says :—'' The Quail seems to be a permanent resident in the plains of Kash- 

 gharia; I got two birds at Yarkand in February, and the Shikaris were positive that the bird 

 was to be met with throughout the winter. In summer the birds were common in the fields 

 about Yarkand, though not very numerous. The Turki name for this species is ^ Budinah; 

 but the common people generally call it ' Wahoalak: " 



