138 SECOND YAEKAND MISSION. 



Dr. Stoliczka states in his ' Diary ' that this species was not uncommon at Sarikol, and 

 ajoparently bred in the neighbourhood. Colonel Biddulph states that he met with this species 

 at Tashkurghan on the 8th of May. Dr. Henderson writes : — " This species was first met with 

 on the 19th of July at the hot springs above Gokra, at an elevation of 16,000 feet. A few 

 were seen on the Salt Plain on the 29th of July, and after that the birds were found in pau\s 

 all along the Karakash Hiver. They were not very numerous, but a certain number of pairs 

 were met with each day. Not a single bird was seen on the return journey in September and 

 the early part of October. Gokra was reached on the 5th of that month, so that ere this the 

 young birds must have been sufficiently advanced to leave along with the parents for our 

 distant Indian coasts." 



Genus VANELLUS. 



320. Vanellus cristatus. 



Vanellus cristatus (Meyer) ; Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. p. 69 (1873) ; Hume & Renders. Lahore to Yark. 

 p. 286 (1873) ; Scully, Str. F. iv. p. 186 (1876) ; Blanf. East. Persia, ii. p. 280 (1876) ; Prjev. in 

 Rowley's Orn. Misc. ii. p. 433 (1877) ; Zarudn. Ois. Transcasp. p. 68 (1885) ; Scully, J. A. S. Beng. 

 Ivi. p. 87 (1887) ; Sharpe, Trans. Linn. Soc. (2) Zool. v. pt. 3, p. 88 (1889). 



Vanellus vulgaris, Bechst. ; Dresser, Ibis, 1876, p. 328; Bidd. Ibis, 1881, p. 94; Scully, ibid. p. 587. 



Nos. 994, 1042. Tarkand, November 10-27, 1873. 

 Nos. 1129, 1130. Kashghar, December 10, 1873. 

 No. 1223. Kashghar, January 22, 1874. 

 No. 1778. Yarkand, May 24, 1874. 



Colonel Biddulph writes : — " Not very common. I shot single birds at Sanju and 

 Kashghar, and saw others, but never in flocks, whilst travelling about the plains country. I 

 did not notice them in the hills." 



Dr. Henderson obtained specimens in the plains between Karghalik and the city of 

 Yarkand. He says that they seemed to be very abundant in all marshy places throughout 

 the plains of Yarkand. 



" The Lapwing," writes Dr. Scully, "was exceedingly common in the plains from March 

 to December, but was not observed in January or Pebruary. It frequented marshy ground 

 and the vicinity of streams, generally in flocks. It breeds in April and May ; and I noticed 

 in the beginning of June that these birds often circled round and round over one piece of 

 grass, uttering their plaintive cry and evidently solicitous about their young. The Turki 

 name for the Peewit is ^ Gheman^ (i. e. ' Chaman,' Persian, ' walking haughtily ')." 



Near Yarkand Dr. Stoliczka found the Lapwing breeding, and procured young birds on 

 the 27th of May, which were fully a week old. 



Genus CHETTUSIA. 



321. Chetttjsia gregauia. 



Vanellus gr eg arius, Pall. ; Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. p. 69 (1873). 



Chettusia gregaria, Dresser, Ibis, 1876, p. 328; Bidd. Ibis, 1881, p. 95; Scully, t. c. p. 587; Zarudn. 

 Ois. Transcasp. p. 68 (1885). 



No. 1457. Panjah, April 13, 1874. 



" Saw four of them." 



