1872.] W. T. Blanford— Zoology of Sihhim. 63 



last quills (tertiaries) and the central tail feathers brown with broad fulvous 

 margins, the other tail feathers blackish with very narrow pale tips which 

 can only be apparent in a freshly moulted specimen, the two outer rectrices on 

 each side edged aad tipped with white, most broadly on the outermost in 

 which nearly the whole outer web is white ; wing lining white ; flanks fulvous ; 

 bill black above, pale near the base below ; legs black, soles of feet yellowish. 



This species is nearer to O. penicillata than to O. longirostris. It is 

 distinguished from the former by the black of the sides of the neck not 

 joining that on the breast, and apparently by its more lilac coloration. From 

 O. longirostris it differs in its much shorter bill, black legs,* paler tints of the 

 upper plumage, and the purer white of the lower parts. Specimens of O. 

 longirostris in the Indian Museum have no black frontal band at the base of 

 the bill, and the black of the crown is not distinctly defined, but passes into 

 the brown of the nape, whereas in the new species the margin is distinct. 



From O. alpestris it differs entirely in coloration, it is much paler above 

 and purer white below, it wants the broad dark centres to the feathers of the 

 mantle, and although my specimen is evidently in freshly moulted winter 

 plumage, there is no trace of yellow on the head. Judging from Gould's 

 figure in the Birds of Europe, O. alpestris wants the black frontal band of 

 O. JElwesi, and the hind claw in the former is decidedly longer. 



Three specimens of this horned lark were shot by Captain Elwes close 

 to Kongra Lama pass, between 15,000 and 16,000 feet. I did not myself 

 notice any at this spot, but I believe I saw some near the Donkia pass at 

 nearly 18,000 feet elevation. The only specimen I possess, for which I am 

 indebted to Captain Elwes, is in beautiful condition, having evidently first 

 completed its autumnal moult. 



AccentoridcB. 



So far as I can judge, the Accentors have as good a claim to form a 

 distinct family as the buntings or larks have. Scarcely any two ornithologists 

 assign the same portion to them, they rank alternately as thrushes, warblers, 

 Ampelidce and finches. 



652 Accentor iopaiensis, Hodgs. — This bird was by no means rare at 

 high elevations in the Lachung valley. Elwes obtained it at the Tankra-la. I 

 shot it on the hills above Yeomatong, and near Momay Samdong. I never 

 saw it below 14,000 feet, nor far from a glacier, indeed the moraines of 

 glaciers appeared to me its most common haunt. Sometimes it was solitary, 

 but more frequently three or four birds occurred together, on the ground or on 

 rocks. In the Lachen valley I did not meet with it, and in the upper part 

 of that valley, it appeared to be completely replaced by A. riiheeuloides. 



* Two specimens of 0. longirostris from the Western Himalayas in the Indian 

 Museum have brown legs, like the figure in P. L. S. 1855, Aves, pi. CXI. 



