Mr. R. Svvinhoe on Amoy Oi-nithology. 387 



without convolutions. Lobes of liver small, and not extending 

 over the belly. Belly enveloped in white fat. Proventricular 

 sac very large and fleshy, empty, with a small pea-like pit or 

 stomach proper with an adhering epithelium, containing a little 

 greenish-yellow exuvia of marine seeds like duck-weed, some 

 black specks^ and one small limy grit. Intestines "2 in. thick 

 at duodenum, '\ in. thick for rest of length; total length 7 

 inches ; one small ccecum almost touching the cloaca. 



This is the first Petrel that I have met with in China. Dr. 

 Jerdon states (B. of Ind. iii. p. 827) that Stormy Petrels have 

 been seen at the mouth of the Ganges, but that he had procured 

 no specimens. The species noted from Eastern Asia (Kurile 

 Islands) by Pallas (Zoog. R.-As. ii. pp. 315, 316) are Procellaria 

 pelayica and P. orientalis ; the former seems to be Thalassidroma 

 leachi, Temm., and the latter, T.furcata (Gmel.). Von Schrenck 

 (Reis. Amurl. i. p. 515) obtained the former from the Kurile 

 Islands. Ours adds a third species to this region. 



During the same excursion I shot a large Egret, Hei'odias 

 alba, in the unadorned winter plumage. The bird was a male 

 and had its bill and cere orange-yellow, and its legs entirely 

 black, without the light tibial ring of the hot season. 



Dr. H, GiglioH, who is now in China in the Italian Frigate 

 ' Magenta,^ called my attention to the fact that our black Mina 

 is not the Aci'idotheres cristatellus (L.) of Bonaparte's ' Con- 

 spectus.' This I had observed myself before ; but not having a 

 copy of Linnseus's ' Systema Naturae ' by me, I was unable to 

 ascertain whether his description did not refer to the Chinese 

 bird. Bonaparte {op. cit. i. p. 419) under A. aisiatellus (L.), 

 gives '' crisso caudaque ad apicem albis," " ex Bengal." I can 

 find no such bird in Jerdon' s * Birds of India ' ; but Bonaparte 

 may in this general term " Bengal " have included the Tenas- 

 serim Provinces ; and if his description agrees that of Linnaeus, 

 then the true A. cristatellus (L.) is probably the bird from Siam, 

 which I have called A. siamensis (P. Z. S. 1863, p. 303); and 

 the Chinese Philippine bird will have to stand, according to 

 Bonaparte {loc. cit.), as A. philippensis (Temm,), given as "ex 

 Ins. Philipp. Macao," " tectricibus caudce inferioribus nigris, 

 albo-marginatis nee albis." Unfortunately, however, tradition 



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