Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/261

Rh the pursuit of the sportsman, who is often baffled by the perpendicular descents and the great extent of loose rock. Although rarely hunted by the natives it is nevertheless extremely shy and not easily seen, owing to its grey plumage closely assimilating with the colour of the rocks.

Early in the morning and towards evening it flies to the grassy knolls where it feeds. I never detected insects in its crop; its favourite food in summer consisting of the heads of wild onions which grow in abundance on the alpine meadows.

There are five to ten chicks in a brood, over which the parent birds watch with anxious solicitude. If danger be near, particularly when the young are very small, the old birds will run about twenty paces from the sportsman and try to attract his attention by feigning lameness or illness, as our partridges will often do at home. Chickless pairs, whose eggs have most likely been destroyed by the frost, are not uncommon, and the probable frequency of these mishaps may account for their comparatively small numbers in the Kan-su mountains and the ranges of Northern Tibet.

Another characteristic bird of the alpine zone of the Kan-su mountains is the snow-vulture (Gyps nivicola) resembling in its mode of life and habits other species belonging to the same family, and