Part 60 - Langong botanical notes and bird nesting records, May 1938

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SUMMARY:
Field notes from Langong list multiple Primula specimens with observations on flowering, variation, and a possible hybrid, and note nearby passes (Lo La/Shethang La and Chubumbu La) used in July–August. Bird nesting records for Crossoptilon harmani and Blood Pheasant at about 12,000 ft are dated 28–29 May 1938.

CONTENT:
Langong - May 38. Primula macrocephala 3889, R. laudandum 3900, agglutinatum form 3902, Lil. nanum 3903, Gaultheria trichophylla 3905, Androsace delavayi 3906, Mec. integrifolia 3909, Trichophragma 3910, Lloydia serotina 3915.

30a Littledalei Langong

3892. Primula rotundifolia. Very early. Almost in full bloom, certainly so in a good many cases. It was in full flower on the Kashong La (15000') on 15th July.

3893. Primula chamaethauma. Has a very short flowering period, and grows where snow has just melted.
      Flowers vary a good deal in colour, but I think the very great majority are almost the same.
      When flowers fall off, the scape has not yet appeared. But this is not always the case as is shown by —

3894 P. chamaethauma x P. Roylei? 3893 and 3894 grow together. 3894 are a few specimens which seem rather different to the typical form. Both grow among P. Roylei. Is this one a cross between 3893 and P. Roylei? The long scape and the short pedicels rather point that way, and the colour of the flower is nearer P. Roylei. But it has none of the unpleasant smell of the latter, which was very noticeable in the plants of P. Roylei here.

3895. Primula macrophylla. I was not sure whether to call this P. macrophylla or P. macrocarpa. It differs from each, as far as I have seen them before. It is small for P. macrophylla, and has a very large white ring outside the eye at the base of the lobes.

3896. Primula sikkimensis. Langong.

3897. Primula yargonjensis. Langong.

VALLEY TO SOUTH has a path up it by which Lopas come in July - August. It is known as the Lo La on the South side, and the SHETHANG LA this side. Rough bearing from Langong = 145°.

VALLEY to Lopa country leaving the main valley about 1 1/2 m W. of Langong leads to the CHUBUMBU LA, also not open till July - August.

LANGONG CROSSOPTILON HARMANI. c/7. 12000'. 28.5.38. All eggs difficult to blow. Nest said to be in a hole under shrubs, no particular making of a nest, just use of a natural place.

BLOOD PHEASANT. I. kuseri. c/6 12000' 29.5.38. Chicks with a few feathers on them in all eggs. Nest under a dwarf juniper bush, in a hole in the ground. No special things used for nest, just made with the leaves of the juniper, dead grass and moss. Not lined in any way. Parent bird had been driven off before I arrived, but a few feathers of her blood pheasant were in nest, and 2 birds within 40 yds.