437 
Birds of the Zarafschan Basin. 
are conspicuous by their absence, except for small groves 
of junipers at a high altitude in the mountains. 
When I journeyed out to Turkestan in 1907, I intended 
to devote a year to this southern district, and to make a 
collection of birds from the low sandy deserts of Bokhara 
up to the high ranges that form the western declivities of 
the Pamirs. 
I travelled by way of St. Petersburg, Moscow and 
Orenburg, through Russian Turkestan to Samarkand. At 
this town I made my headquarters, for it was situated on 
the middle portion of the Zarafschan River, and the desert 
and high mountains were equally within reach of it. 
Here I met Mr. W. R. Rickmers, whose knowledge of 
Bokhara and whose travels in these countries are well known, 
and with whom I was engaged to travel. But, unluckily, in 
the end he was unable to accompany me, or to make any 
long journeys, so that most of my excursions were undertaken 
alone, and my labours were confined to the Zarafschan 
Yalley. However, by making a systematic collection along 
the whole course of the Zarafschan 1 was able to get a very 
good idea of the ornithology of the whole district. 
The Zarafschan is a typical river of Inner Asia. Having 
its source in the immense glaciers in the mountain-mass 
north-east of the Pamirs and flowing for two hundred miles 
through rugged mountain scenery, it at last reaches the 
open plain. Here, when set free from its mountain-home, 
it waters a wide valley—the Yale of Samarkand, and further 
out on the plain it creates the fertile area that surrounds 
Bokhara. Further still, having been deprived of most of its 
water for irrigation purposes, it flows on as -a little stream 
into the sand-dunes, forms a swamp, and gradually evaporates. 
In its whole course it has a length of four hundred miles 
and its basin is self-contained. 
The variety of scenery, of altitude, of climate, and con¬ 
sequently of flora and fauna, that such a valley presents, 
made it well worth a year’s work. The climate is naturally 
one of extremes, in a region so far removed from the ocean. 
The winters are exceedingly cold ; and bitter winds sweep 
