Page:From Kulja, across the Tian Shan to Lob-Nor (1879).djvu/58

Rh Besides four-footed beasts, the forests on the Kunges contained many a migratory woodcock and thrush (Turdus atrigularis, T. viscivorus), and numbers of corncrakes and landrail on the meadow-land. Many of the nesting birds had departed for the south; of non-migratory we only found an occasional pheasant (Ph. mongolicus), blue tits (Cyanistes cyanus), woodpeckers, and a few others. The autumnal flight is generally very deficient in this part of the Tian Shan, even in small birds.

A range of no great elevation, crossed by a pass 6000 feet high, separates the Kunges from the broad valley of the Tsanma, the river we had already crossed near its mouth. Although not more than eight versts apart, the difference in the height of the respective valleys of the Kunges and Tsanma is nearly 2000 feet. From the pass itself may be seen, as from an opera-box, on one side the comparatively low and deeply indented Kunges valley, on the other the elevated basin of the river Tsanma. The latter is about four versts wide, and thickly clothed with high grass. Along the upper course of the river, commencing at an