Dr. O. FinsclBs Ornithological Letters. 51 
trees. Pastor roseus was plentiful; but we did not find its 
breeding-place. 
On leaving lake Ala-kul we went to Lepsa, at the foot of 
the Ala-taw Mountains—the mighty frontier between Russia 
and China. Thence we made excursions into the mountains, 
never being able to ascend to any great elevation on account 
of the snow. 
We now found numbers of representatives of the Indian avi¬ 
fauna which we had not previously met with. Instead of the 
common Wagtail, which we still observed on the Ala-kul, we 
had the pleasure of seeing Motacilla per sonata in the streets of 
Lepsa, a species observed along the whole road through the 
Tarbagatai and Altai to Kolywan. In Barnaul Motacilla alba 
was again the only species. We also saw Cinclus leucogaster, 
a species of Pica (most likely P . leucoptera) , the Himalayan 
•* ''Fringilla caniceps, a Petrocincla which I cannot make out 
at present, a species of Columba allied to C. palumbus, but 
distinct, a wonderful species of Saxicola , throughout black, 
except the head, which was grey. This bird was shot near 
the interesting Dscassyl-kul, an alpine lake, situated 5000 feet 
above the sea-level. We also met with Cotyle rupestris, Carpo- 
dacus erythrinus } a Corvus smaller than C. corax , but larger 
than C. corone, perhaps also new. From Lepsa we went back 
to the Ala-kul, and by the road of Urdscha-Bacty to the Chi¬ 
nese town of Tschugutschak, and thence crossing the Tarba¬ 
gatai Mountains, which form the Russo-Chinese frontier, by 
the Bugutai pass to Saissan, where we arrived on the 30th 
of May. The greater part of our way lay through steppe 
region abounding with Larks. Our common species ( Alauda 
arvensis) we found everywhere, even on the highest meadows 
of the Altai; also A. brachydactyla , and a species resembling 
A. sibirica , but larger, and which I cannot now determine; 
A. albigula was also there. A. tartarica, strange to say, was 
absent, disappearing before we reached Sergiopol; nor did we 
meet with this singular species again until we reached the 
desert-like steppe between Nor-Saissan and Maiterek, which is 
in character like the desert of Gobi, as we were told by people 
who know the latter. 
