422 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^c. 



Jerdon (Birds of India) set down the South-China species as 

 C. mindanensis, whereas Blyth and I have repeatedly shown that 

 it is the true C. saularis *. We passed many gardens where the 

 betel-leaf plant was trained on poles, like hops, for the sake of 

 its leaf. Areca-palms were abundant, as also cocoa-nuts and 

 the red-fruited King Cocoa-nut. 



We moved out of Penang harbour at night. The sky was 

 cloudless, with a very young crescent moon. It was warm, and 

 the dark water wonderfully phosphorescent. The fish, as they 

 darted about, gleamed like meteors ; and as they leapt and fell 

 again into the element, the drops were showered round like 

 sparks, succeeded by expanding rings of silver light. 



Dec. 14th, Singapore. Visited the Botanical Gardens — quite 

 a charming spot; in fact, an English garden, with roses and 

 other flowers placed by enchantment, as it were, on the out- 

 skirts of a primitive forest. A small party of Budytes melanotis 

 were feeding on the grass-plot. They were in winter plumage, 

 yet their dark ears at once identified them. The island of Sin- 

 gapore is only moderately undulated, the chief rock being gra- 

 nite-boulders ; but near the side-harbour I observed an outcrop- 

 ping mass of finely laminated sandstone. 



On our way up the China Sea we took what is called the 

 Palawan passage, to escape the strength of the north-east or 

 winter monsoon. We sighted the coast of the north end of 

 Borneo. Dec. 17th, a Hiaticula cantiana flew about the ship. 

 Several large white-bellied Gannets {Sula) floated past on a 

 log. One continued till late, flying about the ship. A shoal 

 of fish observed jumping ahead of the vessel, with a large flight 

 of big Terns [Sterna caspia ?) hovering over them. Sea calm, 

 smooth, and lead-coloured, with a heavy swell. Flying-fish nu- 

 merous. Dec. 19th, a Noddy [Anous stolidus) perched on the 

 ship at night, and was caught. The Noddy was a male ; irides 

 rich brown ; the bronchi were long, and broader than the trachea, 

 but of simple form ; the oesophagus expands before reaching the 



* The female of the Ceylonese Copsychus differs as much from the male 

 as ours. Upon what xlifferences then, is the C brevirostris separated 

 as a distinct species? Gould and Layard, I find, both very properly unite 

 it to C. saularis. 



