350 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Ground-Tlirnsli, the Black-Throated Ouzel belongs to the Eastern Palse- 

 aretic Region, and is one of many Siberian birds which are in the habit of 

 occasionally missing their way on their autumn migration, and wandering 

 into Europe instead of South Asia. I met with it twice in the valley 

 of the Yenesav on my return journey from the Arctic regions, between 

 latitudes 60° and 63°, early in August ; I found it a very noisy active bird. 

 I was too late for eggs ; but the not fully fledged young, three of which I 

 secured, were a source of great anxiety to their parents, whose alarm-notes 

 resounded on the skirts of the forest on every side. They principally 

 frequented the neighbourhood of the villages on the banks of the river, 

 where the forest had been cut down for firewood, and clumps of small trees 

 were scattered over the rough pastures where the cattle of the peasants 

 are ttirned out to graze in summer. They showed a marked preference for 

 the pines, and were very wary. The males kept out of gunshot ; and I only 

 obtained one adult, a female. 



It probably also breeds in the same latitude of the Obb, and in a similar 

 climate in the pine-regions of the Himalayas and Eastern Turkestan. It 

 winters in Western Turkestan, Baluchistan, and North India, occurring on 

 migration as far eastwards as Lake Baikal, and in winter as far as Assam. 



Severtzow says that it breeds in Eastern Turkestan in the cultivated 

 districts, gardens, grassy steppes, and salt plains, up to 4000 feet above the 

 level of the sea ; and there cannot be much doubt that it breeds also at a 

 considerable elevation in the pine-regions of the lofty Himalayas. In 

 winter when the Arctic forests are frost-bound, and all its northern haunts 

 untenable, the Black-throated Ouzel is quite a common bird in Baluchis- 

 tan and North India, where it regularly spends the cold season. In 

 India its winter haunt is the more open woods at a level of from 3000 to 

 8000 feet, and it is occasionally seen on roads and pathways. In Baluchis- 

 tan its haunts (according to Blanford) are the miserable apologies for 

 gardens at Guiidar, one of the most desolate of inhabited spots on the 

 eartli''s surface, in the vicinity of houses, and on the sand-downs near 

 the sea ; and in other districts it frequents well- wooded plains. In Eastern 

 Turkestan it winters amongst the trees bordering watercourses or growing- 

 near tanks. Favourite places to observe these birds in the winter, 

 according to Dr. Scully (Stray Feath. 1876, p. 80), are amongst the 

 sand-hills and low scrub-jungle ; and further on (p. 140) he says that 

 " the birds disappear entirely in the spring, migrating in a north-easterly 

 direction, towards the hills and the Lob district, where it is reported to 

 breed. It feeds chiefly on Elcar/nus-hervies, called "■ jigda ' in Turki, 

 and commonly known as ' Trebizond dates ;' hence its name Jigda-chuk, 

 i. e. 'jigda-eater.' This food is also varied with insects and worms, much 

 similar fare to that selected by the other members of this family of birds." 



Nothing is known of the nest of this birdj but a series of its eggs has 



