Mr. R. Swinhoe on Amoy Ornitholugy. 233 



spotted with white, mostly about the wings. I suppose it must 

 be a sign of debility, for want of proper nourishment. 



In relation to Gallinacece I should like to make an observation 

 or two about the " Rooster.'^ There is a breed here, with a 

 white hair-like plumage and blue-and-white face-wattles, called 

 by Chinese the " Silken Fowl." I dare say it is also known in 

 England. This bird has the skin tinted with black, and black 

 tissue enwrapping its bones, which gives the roast or boiled a 

 decidedly ugly appearance on the table ; but its flesh is, never- 

 theless, white and sweet. This variety, breeding with the ordi- 

 nary Dunghill race, gives, so far as my observation goes, an 

 offspring, though often externally similar to the latter, yet 

 always with a predominance of black pigment, as in the former. 

 What the colouring-matter is, and how caused, I have not been 

 able to ascertain. Another curious breed of the "Domestic 

 Bird," as the Chinese in figurative language style the Phasianus 

 gallus of Liuua3us, is the kind called here the " Pine-apple Hen," 

 so named from the strange reversal of all its feathers, even to the 

 quills and tail, towards the head like the leaves of the Pine- 

 Apple. This race, breeding with any other, produces reverted 

 feathers in the offspring. Crossing with the " Silken-Fowl," 

 if a " Silken " brood is produced, as usually happens when the 

 male is the " Pine-apple," the quill-feathers only are reversed. 

 These facts, however, may already be known to poultry-fanciers. 

 Our third peculiar breed at Amoy is the large Cochin or 

 Shanghai Fowl, which has had its turn of popularity in 

 England. 



Sept. 4th. — Our Solitary Sparrow [Petrocincla manillensis) is 

 now about our housetops, and cheers us with his sweet song, 

 glad, it would seem, at being relieved from his arduous nidifi- 

 catory duties among the solitary hills. 



A young Melophus lathami that I have in keeping, besides 

 the usual hop common to Emberizee, occasionally indulges in a 

 shuffling walk. 



Sept. 13th. — The first Curlews seen this year. 



Sept. 30th. — The first Snipe of the season. Two specimens 

 of Gallinago solitaria and one of G. scolopacina brought to me 

 by a Chinaman. We do not generally look for the latter till 



