254 Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Ornithology of Foochow. 



their necks with a loud cackling, up they rise, and wheeling in 

 long circles at length betake themselves further seaward. They 

 do well to shun the approach of the white man, poor birds ! for 

 Colonel Hawker's murderous fowl-artillery is in possession of 

 certain sporting residents at this port, and no less than thirteen 

 of their brethren have gasped iu death -pang from one fatal 

 discharge. Anser ferus and A. hyperboreus also visit these 

 waters, as well as a few Swans [Cygnus minor), both in mature 

 and immature plumage, in January and February, when the cold 

 season has reached its climax. C. musicus is said by Schlegel 

 and Von Schrenck to be found in Japan and North China, and 

 it is not impossible that a few of these are also included by 

 sportsmen in the general term of Swans. What are those four 

 white birds we see paddling gracefully away from us ? They are 

 too tame to be Swans. Yes, their long-pouched bills betray 

 them; they are Pelicans — Pelecanus crisjms. Different from 

 most others of the feathered visitants of winter, these are not north- 

 ern birds, but frequent the inland lakes and rivers, whence the 

 freezing of their watery haunts drives them to seek subsistence 

 in streams communicating with the sea. The Ducks about us 

 are chiefly Fuligula marila and F. cristata, sitting like scattered 

 dots over the surface of the water, with occasional parties of 

 Sheldrakes, Tadorna vulpamer and T. rutila ; but the latter is 

 scarce near the sea, its habits leading it mostly to prefer fresh 

 water. The Curlews are strutting about the mud, ever on the 

 look-out to take wing at the approach of a boat, while certain 

 smaller, sprightlier birds wading about among them — the first to 

 give warning — are off already, with their shrill " teo-teo." The 

 wretched little telltales we recognize at once to be Totanus 

 glottis. Of the other Sandpipers, T. stagnatilis, T. calidris, and 

 T. fuscus appear to be rai'er and more locally distributed, as also 

 is T. pulverulentus. T. ochropus prefers generally the margins 

 of inland waters, in company with the Golden Plover {Chara- 

 drius virginicus), where the Teal, Pintail, Anas falcaria, A. cly- 

 peattty and A. boschas also seek shelter from the cold sea-blasts. 

 The cloud of small birds that rise with one accord — so unani- 

 mous in their evolutions, at times showing their white bellies 

 like large flocks of falling snow, and at others becoming almost 



