THE BIEDS OF MONGOLIA ETC. 175 



towards the end of August or beginning of September, that being the time 

 when most of the Kan-su songsters depart for the south. 



61. RUTICILLA SCHISTICEPS, HodgS. 



The mountainous parts of Kan-su are very rich in Redstarts ; but the 

 preceding, present, and succeeding species are by far the commonest. 



R. schisticeps keeps mostly to the wooded valleys of the mountains, and 

 is found also in large woods, but has not been known to ascend to the 

 alpine regions. We found it in Kan-su at the end of April and in the 

 beginning of May very numerous ; and on the 11th of May a nest with four 

 quite fresh eggs was taken. These eggs are of a rather bright flesh- colour, 

 and sometimes marked with hardly perceivable brownish spots ; large 

 diameter 0'''76, small 0'''58. The nest was situated in an indentation of a 

 rock, about 1 foot deep, and was constructed of moss and animal wool, lined 

 with the feathers of Crossoptilon auritmn. 



The limit for the present as well as many other species is formed by 

 the Kan-su mountains. 



62. RuTiciLLA HODGsoNi, Moorc. CrasfiocJivostka Hodgsona, 



Ruticilla hodgsoni, Moore, P.Z. S. 1854, pi. Iviii. 



Does not go northwards beyond Kan-su, and inhabits the wooded 

 districts of the mountains. It does not differ in its habits from any of the 

 other Redstarts. Its spring migration probably takes place at the end of 

 April, when we found it in the mountains. Measurements of a male — length 

 6"-5, width 9"-5, wing 3"-25, tail 2"-7, culmen 0"-4, tarsus 0"-92. 



63. Ruticilla alaschanica, n. sp. Crasnochvostka ala-shanshaya. 



(Plate LIV. I. fig. 2.) 



Uufo-ferruginea^ dorso vividiore ; vertice et nuclia cyaneo-plumbeis ; alis nigricantibus^ fascia lata 



