400 W. T. Blanford — Journey through Silclam. (_No. 4, 



sparingly snowed crags and only broken by the huge glacier which 

 descends below all the others, and to which reference has already 

 been made. 



I again climbed up the east side of the valley, and shot several 

 snow partridges. On my road up I bagged two blood pheasants 

 (Ithagenis cruentus) and I saw some monal, but they were too wary 

 to be shot. On my return I found Elwes who had come from the 

 Tankra-la ; he had been disappointed in his expectations of Ovis 

 ammon, but he had obtained several good birds, Lerva, Accentor 

 Nipalensis, Fringillauda nemoricola and Alsocomus Hodgsoni, the 

 speckled wood pigeon, which.it was rather surprising to find at an 

 elevation of 13000 or 14000 feet. He had, however, unfortunately 

 had a touch of fever the day before. 



September 14th. "We devoted the day to collecting in the fir 

 woods around the valley. The most common birds were the crested 

 tits, Lophophanes Beavani, L. dichrous and L. cemodius, the first being 

 by far the most abundant. They kept in flocks, and with them 

 were associated many Phylloscopi (P. lugulris) and Certhia 

 Nipalensis. This curious association I noticed in numerous in- 

 stances ; sometimes one or two other little birds were also mixed 

 with the flocks, but the abovenamed species were always together, 

 and I never saw the creeper away from the tits. On the edges of the 

 forest Ianthia rufilata, Tarsiger chrysceus, and Trochaloptericm affine 

 were met with, and my shikari brought in the rare Drymochares 

 stellatus. In the open ground Corydalla striolata and Calandrella 

 brachydactijla abounded, but scarcely any finches appeared. There 

 were several of the red-billed curlew, Ibidorhynchus Struthiersi, 

 scattered about the edges of the river ; one or two families had 

 probably bred in this spot, as most of those we shot proved to be 

 young birds. Dippers, {Cinclus Asiaticus) Chimarrhomis and 

 wagtails were common, but no swimming birds, nor any waders 

 except IMdorhynchus. In fact the paucity of water birds, of waders 

 especially, appears characteristic of this part of the Himalayas. 



Amongst the moss-covered stones, the Himalayan wien,TrogJodytes 

 Nipalensis, was common, running in and out of the crevices, and 

 frequently disappearing for some seconds into cavities beneath the 

 rocks. I shot another bird also which for a long time puzzled me, 



