264 
ORNITHOLOGY. 
753. Fringillauda nemoricola, Hodgson. 
This species was only observed on the return journey in 
any great numbers,, and then it was seen in large flocks, in 
the upper part of the Sind Valley, in the same localities as 
Einberiza leucocephala. Of a male I note — Length, 6 ; tail 
from vent, 2*5 ; expanse, 11*25 ; foot, greatest length, 1*25 ; 
wings when closed reach to within 1 of end of tail. Bill 
horny ; irides brown. Legs and feet black. [G. H.'] 
A single specimen was obtained on the 22nd of June, at 
Dras, in Ladak, and some few birds probably breed there ; 
but it is still uncertain whither the mass of those innu- 
merable flocks that swarm on the lower ranges of the 
Himalayas, at heights of from 4000 to 7000 feet, during 
the winter, betake themselves during the summer. No one 
would believe what countless multitudes of these birds 
throng at times every hill-side in the neighbourhood of 
Kotegurh, in the valley of the Sutlej, during the cold 
weather. They come and go in the most capricious fashion ; 
one day not a bird is to be seen ; then for a week, or a 
month even, they are so thick that, as one of my collectors 
graphically described it, Whatever you shoot at, you are 
sure to knock over at least one of these Lark Finches." 
Then again suddenly they all disappear. They are doubtless 
graminivorous by preference, but I have found lots of small 
insects and, of course, numerous tiny pebbles in their 
stomachs. \_A. O. H.] 
761. Calandrella brachydactyla (Temm.). 
Several specimens of this species were obtained in 
Kashmir and Ladak, in both of which localities it may yet 
prove to breed, and numerous nestlings, apparently of this 
Lark, were procured near Balakchi, and along the 
Karakash between the 31st July and 5th of August. A 
single adult male specimen, also procured in Balakchi, in 
bleached and abraded plumage, while corresponding in every 
other respect with this species, has an unusually long, 
compressed, and pointed bill. It may be a mere deformity 
or accidental variety, but should other similar specimens be 
