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Show 1881.] DR. J. SCULLY ON THE MAMMALS OF GILGIT. 197 perceptible. Again, C. xanthophrys cannot be the young of Oxylabes madagascariensis, because of the different scutellation of the tarsi, while, moreover, we have the young of the latter bird in the British Museum, and it differs only slightly from the old.] 6. Oxylabes madagascariensis (Gm.). 7. OXYLABES CINEREICEPS, sp. nov. Olive-green, with narrow pale shaft-lines; wings and tail olive, the edges to the primaries olive-yellow ; head and nape slaty grey, lores dull white ; cheeks and sides of face creamy white ; ear-coverts slaty grey ; throat and fore neck white; rest of under surface of body yellow, olive on the sides ; under tail-coverts olive-yellow ; thighs olive-brown ; under wing-coverts olive-brown washed with fawn-colour; edge of wing yellow; quills light brown below, ful-vescent along the edge of the inner web. Total length 5-6 inches, culmen 0*55, wing 2-75, tail 2-3, tarsus 0*85. Hab. Fianarantsoa, Madagascar {Rev. D. Cowan). Notwithstanding the difference in the colouring of the two species, 0. cinereiceps seems to be strictly congeneric with 0. madagasca-1 riensis. 5. On the Mammals of Gilgit. By JOHN SCULLY. [Received January 6, 1881.] The tract of country to be referred to in this paper may be roughly defined as the basin of the Indus river within the limits 35° to 36° 30' N. lat. and 74° to 75° E. long.; it forms the northwestern portion of the territories of the Maharaja of Kashmir. Mv observations refer principally to the Mammalian fauna of Gilgit, "a district which lies nearly due north of Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, at a distance of about 230 miles by road ; but I also include the Astor valley, and Nagar, Hunza, and Yassin, three small States which adjoin Gilgit, and are tributary to Kashmir. M y limits are - o n the south the Dorikun or Burzil Pass at the head of the Astor valley, on the east the great bend of the Indus near Haramosh, on the north the principality of Hunza, and on the west Yasin. All this country is highly mountainous, and is intersected by numerous narrow valleys, the streams of which are tributary to the Indus. The lowest valleys are about 4500 feet above sea-level, while the mountain ridges are of great height, with peaks from 15,000 to over 26,000 feet high. The lower parts of the valleys are very barren and arid, their sides being formed by steep bare walls of gueiss ; the cultivated portions are scattered and of small extent, on terraces of the river-alluvium high above the main streams, or more generally on alluvial fans at the mouths of lateral ravines. Above 8000 feet the scenery changes greatly, and grass-covered downs and luxuriant pine-forests abound; higher up still we find the region of snow-covered peaks and mighty glaciers. |