three feet thick. It does not entirely thaw till the first half of May.
Situated in the midst of the arid plains of Mongolia, Lake Dalai-nor serves as a great rendezvous for migratory birds belonging to the orders Natatores and Grallatores. In the beginning of April we found large numbers of ducks,[1] geese,[2] and swans[3] here; divers,[4] gulls,[5] cormorants,[6] less numerous, as were also cranes,[7] herons,[8] spoonbills[9] and avosets.[10] The two latter kinds and others belonging to the same order (Waders) first appeared in the second week of April; birds of prey and small birds were very scarce.[11]
For a detailed description of the flight and habits of these birds I must refer the reader to the second volume of this work,[12] which will be especially devoted to the Ornithology; for the present I will only add that all birds of passage hasten their flight across
- ↑ The most numerous of the ducks were Anas boschas, A. crecca, A. glocitans, A. acuta, A. falcata; less numerous were Anas rutila, A. tadorna, A. clypeata, A. pœcilorhyncha, A. strepera, and Fuligula clangula.
- ↑ Anser segetum was most common; A. cinereus, in sufficient numbers; A. cygnoides and A. grandis, rare.
- ↑ Cygnus musicus and C. color. The former were the most numerous, although the latter were also seen in considerable numbers.
- ↑ Mergus merganser, M. albellus, M. serrator — not many.
- ↑ Larus ridibundus and L. occidentalis?
- ↑ Phalacrocorax carbo.
- ↑ Grus monachus and G. leucauchen, the latter rare.
- ↑ Ardea cinerea.
- ↑ Platalea leucorodia.
- ↑ Recurvirostra avocetta.
- ↑ The most numerous of the birds of prey were Milvus Govinda and Circus rufus.
- ↑ This will not form part of the present translation. — M.
