Showing 7 results

SUMMARY:
Travel from Tyangsi to LAGNABI (Rocha Valley) with notes on an alternate route to Tawang, oak and Pinus longifolia forest, abundant Lilium giganteum, bird collecting success, and presence of snakes but few leeches. The next day they camp east of the Thibi La at 11,389 ft; Ludlow and the diarist set off early as mist forms from cumulus clouds.

CONTENT:
everything ready and comfortable.

9th Sept. To LAGNABI (ROCHA VALLEY) 4 miles 8047'. (BP 198° Temp 75°). This valley lies to the east of Tyangsi, and comes down pretty well due east. The path is fairly good and seems to be used often. This route is said to be a way to Tawang if the other one fails. Ascent is steady but easy. The jungle is mostly oak, with a number of Pinus longifolia mixed among them. Near camp there are a great number of L. giganteum, but seeds and bulbs are not yet ready. This is a good place for birds. In a few hours we managed to get 3 Pnoepygas, 1 Tesia, 1 Sylviparus, 1 new Yuhina and two Grammatoptila. There are no leeches, or so few as not to worry us at all. But there are some snakes, as I found this afternoon. Lilium giganteum is very common here: there are 30-40 in fruit close to camp.

10th Sept. CAMP east of the Thibi La 11389' 9 miles. (BP of Dib La 189.7° Temp 73° BP of camp 192.2° Temp 56°) Rather a remarkable day in many ways. Ludlow and I started off early (6:15) ahead of the coolies, to have an undisturbed forest to walk through. It was fine, with large cumulus clouds about, which gradually came down and formed mist over the whole

SUMMARY:
The diarist describes taking telephoto and cinema panoramas from near the Me La and Dib La, viewing Kula Kangri, the Mago hills, Chakzam Chu, Gauri Chu, and the hills above Pinbogong, and mentions sketching a rough map and seeing a pnoepyga. The entry explains the meaning of Sangthopelri, first seen from the Cho La, and relates the tradition of Lobpön Rimpoche (Guru Rimpoche) traveling from India to Tibet via this route, noting glaciers seen at Mena and before reaching the Me La.

CONTENT:
East of the Me La. Then a panorama with telephoto lens (Focal length 24"). Then a telephoto (F 38") of Kula Kangri. Also with the cinema I took more or less the same, including a short view of the hills to Mago. Again with my small camera with ordinary telephoto lens. A rough sketch map with angles from the Dib La is opposite, not to any kind of scale. I could also see the Mago snow hills, the Chakzam Chu, Gauri Chu, the hills above Pinbogong and away down to India and the plains. I could hardly tear myself away from the Pass with that view still to be seen. Will probably go up again this evening. Got a few birds, including a pnoepyga on the way down.

The word Sangthopelri means 'abode of the gods' or something like that. It is the name of the mountain which we first saw from the Cho La. We walked round two sides of it, seeing a glacier from it at Mena and another before reaching the Me La. The name seems to originate from the fact that Lobpön Rimpoche (Guru Rimpoche) on his way to introduce Buddhism to Tibet went from India by this route. Beyond the Me La he stopped and lived with his two wives beside a rock, on which there is

CONTENT:
seems almost incredible that that should have been done after our instructions. Puibo hopes to retrieve it, and bring it on with him when he comes. He wrote from Dosum Zampa - 'the bridge of the three rivers'. Flies are very bad in this camp all through the day, and a tiny midge with a most annoying bite appears in the mornings and evenings. We have smoke fires lit round the camp to try to cope with them. The walking stick gun has been unable to keep up the uneven struggle. I have tried to patch it up, but the whole thing is made of soft metal and brass, which cannot stand up to the discharge of the cartridge and buckles. So it is being discarded. It is a great pity, because some such other weapon - we have one .22 rifle - is necessary in the thick jungle when after birds like Pnoepyga, Tesia, Neornis and Heteroxenicus. They are all inveterate skulkers, and if one sees them, it is only in the densest jungle at a range of a few yards.

4th September. Tobrang. Fine nearly the whole day, after a downpour during the night. It is very hot and oppressive when the sun shines, but certainly preferable to the rain. We spent, as usual, the

SUMMARY:
Collected several flowers including scented Maddenii-series rhododendrons (specimens 2332, 2334, 2338); noted dense jungle like near Lao in Bhutan, scarce leeches, numerous ticks, and no Pnoepyga, and considered marching down the Chayul Chu. On 11 July, traveled 7 miles to Natrampa in heavy rain and shot two birds near arrival, the same species previously sought near Lung.

CONTENT:
Didymocarpus aromatica 2333, Pedic. integrifolia 2339. 120

This afternoon we got several flowers, the two most interesting were two rhododendrons. One No. 2332 (Rhod. crassum 2332, 2338), 2338 is the same, a beautiful Maddenii ser. rhododendron with a scent which we got from a long way away. Another pretty one 2334 ("igneum" 2334 sp. nov.), like a R. cinnabarinum, only bigger I think, with fewer flowers. These were rather surprises to me, but I have seen Maddenii in flower nearly as late as this at Sanden. Got a few butterflies too, but all are in bad condition. The jungle 4 miles down is very dense, like that near Lao in Bhutan. Leeches were scarce however, and ticks still pretty numerous. Saw no Pnoepyga at all, although the jungle is just what they should be in, nor other birds of interest. It would be interesting to go 3–4 marches down the Chayul Chu in June or even now. All L. giganteum are over now.

11th July. Natrampa. 7 miles. Rained hard all night, and most of today. Nothing of interest on the way up, except two birds I shot just before reaching here, the same as I had tried to get on my way to Lung. The heavy rain had swollen all the side

SUMMARY:
Specimen entries 2092–2105 record birds collected at Donya La on 27 July 1933, noting sexes and a juvenile. Species listed include Lophophorus juv. impeyanus, multiple Ithaginis cruentus tibetanus (Blood Pheasant), Heteroxenicus cruralis, Pnoepyga ?, Aethopyga i. ignicauda, Lophophanes r. beavani, Myzornis p. pyrrhoura, and Pyrrhula erythrocephala.

CONTENT:
2092 ♀ 27.7.33 Lophophorus juv. impeyanus
2093 ♀ " Ithaginis cruentus tibetanus No 499. Donya La - Blood Pheasant 27 July.
2094 ♀ " " " "
2095 ♂ " " " "
2096 ♂ " " " "
2097 ♂ " " " "
2098 ♀ " Heteroxenicus cruralis
2099 Juv. " Pnoepyga ?
2100 ♂ " Aethopyga i. ignicauda.
2101 -
2102 - Lophophanes r. beavani.
2103 - Myzornis p. pyrrhoura.
2104 - Pyrrhula erythrocephala
2105 - " "
2105 ?

SUMMARY:
Halted at Dabla amid persistent rain and mist, with brief outings yielding birds including Spelaeornis sherriffi and Pnoepygas. A small mail arrived; the postmaster reports holding the Mago and Shingbe bags while other bags are with Babu Pradhan’s wives, and notes that Tobgye and Pradhan have been writing for news. The jungle conditions were very wet during a short collecting excursion.

CONTENT:
a few days halt. Yesterday morning I had a good
collection of birds, including two of what seem to be
Spelaeornis s. sherriffi. They should be here too, as
this is about the same height & the vegetation is
similar. But they are not birds one sees much,
living in dense bamboo jungle.

16th Sept. Halted. Dabla. Rained & misted hard all day & all
night. Only went out in the evening & got a couple of
Pnoepygas. Yet another mail arrived - a very small
one naturally, with only newspapers & a note from the
postmaster. He says that he has now our Mago bag
& our Shingbe bag. The other two are still in
the possession of the wife, or wives, of Babu
Pradhan. The PM says that both Tobgye & Pradhan
have been writing to him for news of us. It is
amusing to think of Pradhan writing for news when
letters to him from us both are being held up
by his beastly wives. The PM of course could give
no news of us, as he also had had no
letters.

Dabla 17th Sept. Halted. The rain held off for a couple of
Streptopelia simplex 965 hours this morning & we went away down to
see what we could get. The jungle of course was
soaking. But we got 2 more Spelaeornis sherriffi &

SUMMARY:
A steep climb from the Trashiyangsi valley up to the Dib La passed through oak, bamboo, and rhododendron, with 21 birds collected and the possibility of new species noted. After crossing the frontier pass with Tibet and proceeding along the ridge, a waterlogged camp was made beyond the pass amid torrential rain and severe midges.

CONTENT:
86

Trashiyangsi: valley. The sun was extraordinarily hot for this
Dib La 10 Sept height. The path lies straight up a ridge between
Lobelia erecta 954 two streams, crossing the southern one fairly soon.
The climb is very steep the whole way, through
dense forest, first oak, then bamboo, then
rhododendron. In the bamboo part, we found
birds in numbers & have shot 21. These include
a most interesting collection. It is quite possible
that three new species may come out of these.
For Pnoepyga & Tesia, a couple of miles W of the
Dib La is excellent. The climb continues very
steep indeed right up to the DIB LA at m

7. (Ht 13003) This is the frontier with Tibet.
   On the East side the path is along a ridge,
   mostly pretty easy, with occasional steep drops
   over difficult rocky ground. Camp is a clearing
   reached 2 m beyond the pass. It is the worst
   camp bar Pimi we have had for a long time.
   All the ground available is soaking wet. Ten
   minutes before the coolies arrived, torrential
   rain fell & further soaked the ground &
   everybody as well. However we all got in
   and are reasonably comfortable. The midges however
   are perfectly awful. They appear an hour before dusk, &