160 Mr. K. A. Vorobieff on the Desert Element [Ibis,

Zosterops senegalensis ..... Cinnyris venustus . . . . . . . . . . CinnyriS chalybeus.. ...... Cinnyris rnediocris. . . . . . . . Cyanornitra olimcea . . . . . . . . Ploceus bicolor ............. Ambylospiza albifrons . . . . . . . Petronia superciliaris . . . . . . . Cryptospiza reichenowi .... Cryptospiza aalvadorii .... Hypargos niveogzlttatus ... Lagonosticta rubricata .... Coccopygia rnelanotis ..... Spinm citrinelloides . . . . . . . .

M

M M

M M M* M M

C C C C C

C

C C C C

Cawqephaga jhva . . . . . . . . . . comcina cmsia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dicrtkrus ludwigii . . . . . . . . . . Lccnhrius ferrugineus . . . . . . . Dryoscopus cubla . . . . . . . . . . . . Chlorophoneus rubiginosw . ChEoropkoneus nigrqrons Chlorophoneus nigrmcens Malaconotus poliocqhalus P a w s ruJiventris . . . . . . . . . . . Oriolus monacha . . . . . . . . . . . . . Orwlus chlorocephalus Corvulluralbicollis ........ Onychognathus rnorio. . . . . .

N

N N

M . . . . N . . . . N . . . N

N

. . . . . . . . M N M N

[To be continued.]

N N N N N N .. .. N

..

N N

VII1.-The Desert Element in the Avifaum of the AstracTaan Steppes. By K. A. VOROS~EFF (Zoological Museum of Moscow University).

MY researches in the Caspian steppes during the years 1926- 1930 considerably extend our knowledge of the fauna of this region, and my findirlg for the first time of a number of desert species nesting there essentially alters our conception of its avifauna. Such an extension to the west of members of the Aralo-Caspian fauna can be explained by the presence of similar terrain and probably, also, by the similar climatic conditions in the Aralo-Caspian region and the Astrachan steppes respectively. In fact these areas, both in their general character and plant associations, differ but slightly from the semi-deserts and deserts of Asiatic Russia. Thus, being by their character a continuation of the Aralo- Caspian deserts, the Caspian steppes serve as a highway, facilitating the penetration far West of certain dewrt species. There is no doubt that longer and more detailed investigations in this interesting country will still increase the number of Transcaspian forms to be found there.

In the Astrachan semi-deserts we previously knew of only a very few desert species, as, for instance, QCdicnenus dicnemus, Chettwia gregaria, Pterocles mientalis, QCmnthe isabellina, etc.

C C

C C C C

C C

C C

1934.1 i n the dvijauwa of the dstrnchan Rtcppes. 161

Some of them extend to the semi-desert steppes of the north-eastern Caucasus, and some species go still farther, far beyond the limits of the Kalmuk steppes. I have been able to increase this short list of desert species in the Astrachan steppes by adding Lanius m. pallidirostris, Hippolais rama, i3ylvia nana nana, and S. mystacea. All these species seem to be more or less common nesting-birds in the semi-desert lying to the east of the Volga

Within. the limits of Russia Lanius pallidirostris nests in Transcaspia and in Turkestan. M. N Bogdanov found it nesting on the Mangyshlak Peninsula and in the northern part of Ust-Urt, but hitherto it had not been found nesting in European Russia. In the summer of 1928 I found it nesting fairly commonly in the sands of the steppe along the Volga about 90 km. to the north-east of Astrachan. On 21 June I saw a brood of young birds able to fly well. On the 24th, in a small plantation in the midst of the sands, I found a nest, with five incubated eggs, built in a small poplar, 6 inches from the ground. In the stomachs of the specimens obtained I found chiefly lizards and chitinous remains of small beetles. On 18 July, 1928, a young bird was obtained in the eastern part of the Volga delta, 5 km. from the sea. Lastly, in the summer of 1931 I again found this Shrike nesting abundantly in the sands at Dosang, 60 km. north of Astrachan. Here, in the second week of June, we often met with broods of scarcely fledged young. On 13 June a nest with five hard- set eggs was found, built in a bush of ‘‘ Dzhuzguna ” (Calli- gcnum pallasi) in the midst of sands.

This is the farthest west that Lanius pallidirostris has been found in Russia. On the right side of the Volga, in the Kalmuk steppes, this bird has not been met with.

At Dosang, in the summer of 1931, I succeeded in finding Hippolais rama nesting. In tha first days of June we saw nests and got several specimens. The sands, overgrown by shrubs of Chondrilla ambigua, Elymus sabulosus, Nitraria scheberi or Artemisia inodora, were the favourite habitat of this species. It may be remarked that Hippolais scita also was nesting here. I could see no difference either in the terrain

SER. XILI.-VOL. IV. M

162 Mr. K. A. Vorobieff on the Desert Element [Ibis,

or in the habitat that these two species frequented. Both of them were very common, being the most noticeable and characteristic representatives of the avifauna. I procured some specimens of Hippolais r a m in the spring, and a t the end of summer in the Volga delta also.

Of late years the investigations of Russian naturalists have considerably extended our knowledge of the distribution of Sylvia nana nana. I n Central Asia Koslov, in 1926, found this species nesting in Northern Mongolia as far north as -15" N. (Lake Orok-nor, Gobi Desert). In the same year an exceedingly interesting discovery was made which established its western limit of extension in Russia; E. I. Orloff and B. K. Fenjuk procured two examples on the right side of the Volga in the Kalmuk steppes. I n June 1928 I found this species fairly common and nesting in the sands of the Astrachan steppes (90 km. to the north-east of Astrachan). On again visiting this region on 17-34 September I saw it on passage. In the summer of 1931 I met with this bird a t Dosang, and on 6 June I saw flutterers which were being fed by the parents. On 12 June a female with an oviduct egg was procured, whilst in the ovary there were still several large yolks. Besides finding it nesting in the Astrachan steppes, I saw it on autumn passage (3.ix. 1926, 2. ix. 1927, 23. ix. 1930) in the eastern part of the Volga delta on the shores ofthe Caspian Sea. The birds were upon sandy flats, overgrown here and there with willow-bushes and grass (Butomus umbella- tus). Bostanzhoglo * recorded what he considered a vagrant near the mouth of the Ural on 12 April, 1907, but, knowing what we do now, this was evidently a passage-migrant. At present the northern limit of the distribution of Sylvia num nana in the Caspian steppes is 47" N. As a straggler Zarudny obtained one on 28 June, 1883, on the Chobda R. in the Torenburg region.

So strongly is it addicted to sands, that the Desert-Warbler is found exclusively on them, and in its migratory flight across the Volga delta it rests only on sandy flats and banks of the seashore, and also, perhaps, 04 the Baehr hillocks.

Steppes,' 1911. * V. N. Bostanzhoglo, ' Ornithological Fttuna of the Ado-Caspisn

1934.1 in the dv(fa7cnn of the Astrachan Steppes. 163

It may be supposed that Sylvia nana nana is spreading westward, and that i t is only very recently that this charac- teristic steppe bird has reached the Volga steppes. The birds which I observed on their autumn passage in the delta of the Volga doubtless nested somewhere on the right side of the Volga in the Kalmuk steppes, and on the way to their winter quarters they fly eastwards, in the same direction whence they had originally spread.

All that was known of the distribution of Sylvia rnystacea within the limits of Russia, until quite recently, was that it i t occurred in Turkestan, Transeaspia, and Transcaucasia. In the summer of 1932 L. B. Beme found this species for the first time in the steppes of North Caucasus (district of Kizlar, Terskaja province) on the Terek River. Later A. N. Formosoff (1935) and V. 0. Heptner (1936) observed it during the nesting season in the north-western part of the Kara-Nagajsky steppes. In 1937 it was found by E. I. Orloff” nesting considerably farther north in the Kalmuk steppes on the west side of the Volga. Lastly, I succeeded in finding Sylvia mystacea nesting in the Astrachan steppes, having traced it to the north as far as 47’ N. On 1 July, 1930, I saw in sands overgrown by scrub a brood with their tail- and wing- feathers not fully grown, flying from bush to bush, and the males were still in song.

There seems no doubt that this species has spread northwards not from the Aralo-Caspian region, but from Transcaucasia along the western shores of the Caspian Sea. It is known that it is strongly related in its distribution to that of the tamarisk, and it may be that the northern limit of its extension in the Volga steppes coincides with that of the tamarisk which grows there.

In conluding I will say a few words on the distribution of Caprirnulgus europeus unwini Hume in the sands of the Astrachan steppes. The first specimens of this Nightjar were found here in July 1913 by Chlebnikoff t. In his paper

* E. I. Orloff, ‘Materials for the Knowledge of the Fauna of Verte-

t V. A. Chlebnikoff, ‘List of the Birds of the Astrachan Region,’ brates of the Kalmuk Province,’ 1928.

1928. M 2

164 Mr. C. D. Sherborn on the Dates of [Ibis,

on the birds of the Astrachan region he writes:-“This Nightjar has been found so far only on the west bank of the Volga on the fixed sands above Astrachan, near the Strelet- skaja Vataga.” In June 1931, in the Achtuba sands at Dosang, we procured four specimens and found two nests. The nesting habitats here are the sands overgrown by Artemisia inodora and Elymus sabulosus scrub. The eggs are laid on the bare sand.

My Astrachan specimens do not differ in any way from the Turkestan birds in the collection of the Zoological Museum of the Academy of Sciences, determined by Dr. Hartert as Caprimulgus europams unwini Hume.

Such is the complex of desert species which enter into the composition of the avifauna of the Astrachan semi-desert as elements of the Aralo-Caspian fauna. The presence of these species in the fauna of the region investigated gives it a peculiar character, sharply distinguishing it from the steppes of Stavropol, Kuban, and Don, which lie nearby, to the west.

IX.-On the Dates of By C. D. SHERBORN. British Museum.)

Pallas’s ‘ Zoographiu Rosso-Asiatieu.’ (By permission of the Trustees of the

IN order to clear away the numerous misunderstandings surrounding the dates of this work, my friend Mr. Norman Kinnear has asked me to codify and publish the notes made by me on the book over a period of forty-five years. These are voluminous: they are among my MSS. at the British Museum (Nat. Hist.), and have remained unprinted because it has always seemed to me that the date hardly admits of any question. Unfortunately there are many persons who judge the older authors by the present standards, forgetting that codes and regulations laid down now can hardly apply to the dead or their works. The older authors worked according to their lights, and SO must be considered from their own, and not from our modern, standpoint. A typical example of this is seen in the controversy as to whether a generic name printed