2 Ornithological Observations in the Sallej valley, [No. 1, 



regions. Thus, when staying last year for about six weeks in the 

 neighbourhood of Chini, in the province of Kunawar, I compiled a 

 few notes on some of the main features and relations, which present 

 themselves between the flora and fauna of the more interior 

 and higher ranges of the N. W. Himalaya and those of the 

 temperate, continental portions of Europe, (Verhandlungen der zool. 

 hot. Gesellschaft, Wien, 1866, p. 850). In my present communication 

 I intend to deal with a more special subject and propose to bring 

 More our readers a few observations on the Ornithology of the Sullej 



valley. 



My remarks and enumeration of species will he restricted- so 

 to say-to the Himalayan faeies of the avi-fauna, for the fauna of 

 the so-called sub-tropical forests of the lower Himalayan hills scarcely 

 differs from the Indian fauna in general. But it will be readily 

 understood that, even within this limited area, I cannot pretend 

 to give at present a complete list of all the ornithological treasures 

 W hich actually are to be met with. A good many birds are merely 

 occasional visitors to the valley, in their periodical wanderings to 

 Tibet and Central Asia. Others, properly belonging to the Indian 

 tropical fauna, appear almost accidentally without making any pro- 

 longed stay in the valley. It is difficult to procure all the informa- 

 tion required about such rare species, and I only can mention them, 

 so far as they came under my notice, from reliable authorities or from 

 personal observations. Of the general character of the avi-fauna, 

 however, I trust to give at least an approximately correct idea. 



It was, as I have already stated, with a view to obtain some Tibetan 

 and Central-Asiatic birds, which do not come in winter as low down 

 as the Indian plains, that I undertook to employ shikarees during 

 the winter-time in the interior of the hills. My expectations on 

 this point have not been quite frustrated. I have not only received a 

 tolerably correct account of the avi-fauna during the winter m tins 

 portion of the valley, but I have been at the same time placed m 

 possession of valuable materials, which enable me to make a few 

 additions to this branch of the Indian fauna. 



It has been already* mentioned, that the exclusion of the birds 



* Ibis 1S66, II. p. 228, and elsewhere. 



