PART II.— NATURAL HISTORY. 
CHAPTER L— ORNITHOLOGY. 
I, RESUME OF THE ORNITHOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE 
EXPEDITION. 
By a. 0. Hume. 
The ornithological results of the Yarkand expedition, al- 
though not devoid of interest, have neither been so 
important nor conclusive as might perhaps have been 
expected. Almost from first to last the party were march- 
ing against time : the major portion of the route lay through 
the oft explored regions of Kashmir and Ladak, and 
although the expedition remained for some seven weeks 
within the limits of Yarkand, five of these were occupied 
in painfully struggling through country, which was for the 
most part either higher than the summit of Mont Blanc, 
or else a veritable sandy desert, enlivened by but few 
oases. Thirteen days, it is true, were spent at the city of 
Yarkand itself, but there the absence of the king, Atalik 
Ghazi, and other political complications, rendered any per- 
sonal exploration of the neighbourhood for the purpose of 
procuring natural history specimens absolutely impracticable. 
Three-fourths of the specimens were preserved by the car- 
bolic acid process, (^^ carbolized " as we call it) and but for 
this, many of the most valuable birds would have been lost 
to us, as they were obtained in elevated regions, where intense 
cold and the fatigue of the daily march rendered the skin- 
ning of any considerable number of specimens, and at times 
of even a single bird, absolutely out of the question. 
Altogether, one hundred and fifty-eight species were 
observed, but of these only fifty-nine pertain to the orni- 
