Page:Mongolia, the Tangut country, and the solitudes of northern Tibet vol 2 (1876).djvu/51

Rh belts on the southern slopes of the mountains. The wild peach-trees and bushes were in full blossom, relieving the sombre tints of the hill-sides, which were not yet green. The ravines, particularly where the sun's rays found entrance, were covered with young grass and here and there little flowers such as the anemone (A. Pulsatilla and A. barbulata), milk vetch (Astragalus sp.) and Gagea sp. peeped forth. The poplar, aspen-tree, and willow were in leaf, and the buds of the white and black birch bursting. On the higher alpine meadows vegetation had not yet felt the warmth of spring, but the snow had thawed even on the highest summits of the mountains.

Judging from the situation of the Munni-ula, in the midst of bare steppes half way between north and south, one would have expected that numbers of small birds would have been attracted hither; but this is not the case. During the eleven days we spent here we found only four more kinds of birds than we had observed in July of the previous year; and even these were solitary specimens which had apparently found their way hither by stealth or by accident.

Disappointed in our anticipated ornithological harvest, we left the Munni-ula on May 4th, and started for Ala-shan, ascending the left bank of the Hoang-ho, i.e. by the same route as we had taken in winter when returning to Kalgan. The only