2?6 THE THIBETAN SNOW-COCK. 



ever met with below 15,000 feet ; in Northern Thibet they come 

 lower down. 



Their habits seem, from what little can be gleaned of them, 

 much like those of their larger congener, but they live as a rule 

 in even more elevated and desolate wildernesses. 

 Henderson says in our (i Lahore to Yarkand :" — 



" This bird was first met with in the Sanju Pass in the begin- 

 ning of August, at an elevation of nearly 17,000 feet. 



" Only a single covey was observed there — one was shot and 

 a Falcon flying over frightened the rest, who immediately 

 settled and squatted, so that two of them were caught alive. 

 A month and a half later, on the return journey, they were in 

 thousands at the same place, a continuous stream passing and 

 repassing along the hill side throughout the forenoon just about 

 the snow level. The Kirghiz had numbers of young ones, 

 which their herd boys had caught. 



" Later again, in October, the expedition found them very 

 numerous in the Chang-la Pass about the snow level. They had 

 been feeding on grain all picked out of the droppings of cattle 

 and horses. The Kirghiz name for the bird is Utar." 



Scully, again, who went over much the same ground, 

 remarks : — 



" I shot my first specimen of this species on the 24th Septem- 

 ber 1874 near the top of the Sanju Pass, at an elevation of 

 16,000 feet. Next day I saw hundreds of the birds in a side 

 valley near Kichik Yailak, where they afforded me good 

 shooting. They associated in coveys of about ten to twenty, and 

 were not very shy. When approached from below they moved 

 leisurely up hill, stopping every now and then to look at one, 

 but when shot at or alarmed they flew downwards very swiftly, 

 uttering a pleasant musical whistle. I found their flesh most 

 delicious eating. 



" Numbers of these birds were brought in to us alive, during 

 the winter, at Kashghar (where a specimen was preserved) and 

 at Yarkand ; they were very tame in confinement. Both this 

 species and the preceding one had evidently sought the lower 

 hills near the plains when winter set in. 



" The Turki name for the bird is Ular." 



Prjevalski's account, however, is far the best and fullest that 

 we as yet have of this species. He says : — 



" Like C. chukar i the present species is a quick and lively 

 bird ; and its voice can almost daily be heard, at least in spring 

 and summer, in the midst of the wildest and most desolate 

 parts of the mountains. In the middle of the day, however, 

 from about 1 1 to 3 o'clock, they do not call, but usually rest ; 

 in the morning they begin long before sun-rise. 



" The voice of this Snow Partridge varies in the following 

 ways : (a) when at rest it utters a note resembling that of the 

 female Barndoor Fowl, only louder, occasionally interrupted by 



