Dr. O. FinsclTs Ornithological Letters . 
55 
On board tbe Lotka ( Bismarck,’ on tbe 
Ob river, Sept. 26th, 1876. 
In my last letter I sent yon a few notes on the birds 
observed during our trip through the north-eastern part of 
Turkestan, the north-western frontier of China, and the 
high Altai, which we were obliged, unfortunately, to cross 
in great haste; for I consider these regions of the greatest 
interest, and a most attractive country for naturalists in 
general, and especially ornithologists. I can only regret that 
we had to travel in such haste to reach our destination, the 
Ob region, as soon as possible. We left Barnaul, the capital 
of the Altai, on the 28th of June, and reached Tomsk, a dis¬ 
tance of 435 versts, on the 1st of July. We chose the route 
of Salair in order to see the north-western part of the Altai 
Mountains. This region is covered with immense woods, and 
contains much animal life. But going always very fast in 
our carriage (called a tarantasse), we could only observe 
birds like flowers, on the road-side. In the woods we no¬ 
ticed a Buteo, the Baven, Corvus cornix , Pica caudata , Cu~ 
cuius canorus, Starlings, Carpodacus erythrinus , Turdus mu - 
sicus and T. visdvorus , and one or two species of Phyllo - 
scopus which I could not make out. From Salair to Tomsk 
the mountainous wood-region disappears; and in its place is a 
steppe of high grass, mixed with small clumps of trees (chiefly 
birch trees). Here Falco vespertinus (with young able to fly) 
is one of the commonest birds, together with Pica caudata s 
Corvus cornix , Pratincola ruhicola, and Emberiza aureola . 
Occasionally I observed Aquila imperialism Falco tinnunculus 3 
and Circus cyaneus; and Milvus niger was by no means rare. 
The song of Luscinia philomela was often heard in the thick 
bushes, as well as that of Sylvia garrula } and the harsh cry 
of Crex pratensis, which was our regular night music during 
our whole tour through the Altai, even at the high elevations 
of more than- 6000 to 8000 feet. 
We embarked in the magnificent steamer f Beljetschenko/ 
belonging to our friend Ivan Ivanovitsch Ignatoff, and left 
Tomsk at an early hour on the second of July. The steamers 
of this gentleman perform a regular service during summer 
