  Earlier we reported theoretical studies on the probable production of
astatine radionuclides from $^{6,7}$Li and $^{9}$Be-induced reactions on
natural lead and thalliun targets, respectively. For the first time, in this
report, production of astatine radionuclides has been investigated
experimentally with two heavy ion induced reactions:
$^{9}$Be+$^{\textrm{nat}}$Tl and $^{7}$Li+$^{\textrm{nat}}$Pb. Formation cross
sections of the evaporation residues, $^{207,208,209,210}$At, produced in (HI,
xn) channel, have been measured by the stacked-foil technique followed by the
off-line $\gamma$-spectrometry at the low incident energies ($<$50 MeV).
Measured excitation functions have been explained in terms of compound nuclear
reaction mechanism using Weisskopf-Ewing and Hauser-Feshbach model. Absolute
cross section values are lower than the respective theoretical predictions.
