63 
1872.] W. T. Blanford — Zoology of Silckim. 
last quills (tertiaries) and the central tail feathers brown with hroad fulvous 
margins, the other tail feathers blackish with very narrow pale tips which 
can only he apparent in a freshly moulted specimen, the t\\ o outer rectrices on 
each side edged aad tipped with white, most broadly on the outermost in 
which nearly the whole outer web is white ; wing lining white ; flanks lulvous ; 
bill black above, pale near the haso below ; legs black, soles of feet yellowish. 
This species is nearer to O. penicillata than to O. longirostris. It is 
distinguished from the former by the black of the sides ol the neck not 
joining that on the breast, and apparently by its more lilac coloration. From 
O. longirostris it differs in its much shorter bill, black legs,* paler tints of the 
upper plumage, and the purer white of the lower parts. Specimens of O. 
longirostris in the Indian Museum have no black frontal band at the base of 
the bill, and the black of the crown is not distinctly defined, but passes into 
the brown of the nape, whereas in the new species the margin is distinct. 
From O. alpestris it differs entirely in coloration, it is much paler above 
and purer white below, it wants the broad dark centres to the feathers of the 
mantle, and although my specimen is evidently in freshly moulted winter 
plumage, there is no trace of yellow on the head. Judging from Gou s 
figure in the Birds of Europe, O. alpestris wants the black frontal band of 
0. Elwesi, and the hind claw in the former is decidedly longer. 
Three specimens of this homed lark were shot by Captain Elwes close 
to Kongra Lama pass, between 15,000 and 16,000 feet. I did not myself 
notice any at this spot, but I believe I saw some near the Donkia p 1 ^ 
nearly 18,000 feet elevation. The only specimen I possess, for w ic am 
indebted to Captain Elwes, is in beautiful condition, having evi en y is 
completed its autumnal moult. 
Accentoridce. 
So far as I can judge, the Accentors have as good a claim to form a 
distinct family as the buntings or larks have. Scarcely any two ornithologists 
assign the same poition to them, they rank alternately as thrushes, warblers, 
Amvelidce and finches. 
652 Accentor nipalenbis, Hodgs.-This bird was by no means rare at 
high elevations in the Lacin', ng valley. Elwes obtained it at the Tankra-la. I 
shot it on the hills above Yeomatong, and near Momay Samdong. I never 
saw it below 14,000 feet, nor far from a glacier indeed the moraines of 
glaciers appeared to me its most common haunt Sometimes it was solitary, 
but more frequently three or four birds occurred together, on the ground or on 
rocks In the Lachen valley I did not meet with it, and in the upper part 
of that valley, it appeared to be completely replaced by A. ruleculoides. 
* Two specimens of 0. longirostris from the Western Himalayas in the Indian 
Museum have brown legB, like the figure in P. L. S. 1855, Aves, pi. CXI. 
