Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/289

Rh, and its height from the ground not above twelve inches.

The herbaceous plants diminish in variety, and the clay of the soil becomes more bare as we ascend. At the very summit of the alpine zone, the commonest plants are the Polygonum, Saussurea pygmæa, and a kind of Hesperis.

Indeed the alpine meadow-land does not shine in flowers. The breath of the neighbouring deserts exercises a withering influence over the vegetation in all parts of these mountains, which are far more deficient than those of Kan-su or even than the Munni-ula, yet resembling the former rather than the latter.

The fauna of the Ala-shan can boast neither number nor variety; such as it is I have given it in Volume I., Chapter VI. Birds are few, even in summer; besides those previously mentioned, I found most commonly at this season: the bullfinch (Pyrrhula erythrina), two kinds of carpodacus, the swift (Cypselus leucopygus), mountain swallows (Hirundo rupestris and H. lagopoda), the cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), the bunting, redstarts (Ruticilla nov. sp., and another), the Phyllopneuste, and the stone-thrush (Petrocincla saxatilis). There are neither pheasants nor woodpeckers.

The scarcity of birds in these mountains makes them mournful even in summer when all nature is stirring; no joyful notes enliven the gloomy forests or beetling cliffs. Only an occasional song may be heard in the early morning or late evening; in the