91 
Birds of Kohat and Kurram. 
December 1904, and it struck me that, as I was likely to be 
quartered there for some time, a List of the birds of the 
district might be usefully attempted. I had already made 
notes on a few of the commoner species, when I had the good 
fortune to discover in Mr. C. H. T. Whitehead, 56th Rifles, 
who had just rejoined his regiment at Kohat, a keen naturalist, 
anxious to start work at once on the ornithology of the 
district. We at once agreed to work together, and in spite 
of military duties which permitted of little leisure for the 
pursuit of hobbies, we had, by the end of February 1906, 
acquired at first hand a fair working knowledge of the local 
avifauna. In March 1906 my regiment moved to the 
Samana, a ridge 6500 feet above sea-level and 30 miles due 
west of Kohat Station. This ridge forms the northern 
boundary of the Miranzai Valley, and overlooks on the 
north the Khanki Valley and Tirah, the land of the Afridis. 
Here a few interesting additions were made to our list—such 
as Pica rustica , Accentor rufilatus , Accentor himalayanus, Frin- 
gillauda sordida, and Suya crinigera. Meanwhile, Whitehead 
was doing good work below, and during the manoeuvres 
secured, among other birds, an example of Fringilla 
ccelebs, a species new to India. In the end of April 1906 I 
proceeded home on furlough and, as the sequel will shew, 
the production of the List was then left entirely in White¬ 
head's hands. An interesting discovery made by him shortly 
after my departure was a nesting colony of Aedon famitiaris 
in the vicinity of the station. Taking two months' leave in 
June 1906, he paid a visit to the Kurram Valley lying to 
the N.W. of Kohat, and followed to their breeding-grounds 
at the head of the valley many of the birds that winter in 
the plains around Kohat. During these two months he 
explored the Safed Koh Range very thoroughly, considering 
the short time at his disposal, ascending the two peaks of 
Sikaram (15,600 ft.) and Bodin (14,000 ft.), and by dint of 
real hard work, aided by much enthusiasm, added a great 
deal to our knowledge of the distribution and nesting-habits 
of many Oriental and Palsearctic species, discovering for the 
first time the nests and getting the eggs of Saxicola capistrata 
