tores, Scansores, Oscines, Columbæ, and Gallinaceæ; of the Grallatores and Natatores only one species breeds here. The proportions of the representatives in each class are, however, very unequal, the warblers (Oscines) being far the most numerous; next in order come the Raptores, then Gallinaceæ, then climbers (Scansores), and Columbæ last of all.
The following table will at once show the distribution of the birds of Kan-su:—
Settled and nesting | Migratory | Total | |
1. Birds of prey (Raptores) | 12 | 2 | 14 |
2. Climbers (Scansores) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
3. Warblers (Oscines) | 74 | 5 | 79 |
4. Pigeons (Columbæ) | 3 | 0 | 3 |
5. Gallinaceous (Gallinaceæ) | 9 | 0 | 9 |
6. Waders (Grallatores) | 1 | 7 | 8 |
7. Webfooted (Natatores) | 0 | 4 | 4 |
106 | 18 | 124 |
On comparing the birds of Kan-su with those of Mongolia, we find as striking a difference between them as between their floræ—a fact accounted for by the contrast between the physical conditions of the two countries. Forty-three of these birds were foreign to Mongolia, and even more if we were to include the birds of the Munni-ula and Ala-shan ranges. The ornithology of Kan-su comprises Siberian, Chinese, Himalayan, and Thian-Shan birds.
Beginning with the Raptores, we first notice three kinds of vultures, the Snow-Vulture (Gyps nivicola),[1] the Black Vulture (Vultur monachus), and the lam-
- ↑ Gyps Himalayensis, Hume's 'Rough Notes,' p. 15.