400 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Amoy Ornithology . 



against the tide, to the walled town of Halting. Our shooting- 

 boat arrived later. Commenced war again against the wild 

 fowl. The second morning the water was calm as glass, the 

 sun fiery, and tide high. Thousands of Ducks and Geese were 

 floating lazily on the mirror-like expanse, waiting for the out- 

 flow, rising in flights with a rushing sound of wings as my 

 small boat came slowly towards them. My head felt dizzy in 

 trying to think out the different species that dotted the water 

 before me. I observed a small group of pied birds floating in a 

 clump. Not Sheldrakes, for two or three genuine Sheldrakes 

 are paddling not far from them ! Mergus albellus ? Too close 

 together ! Must be a novelty in the Duck line ! My heart 

 throbs with excitement. A few strokes more, and my cartridge 

 can reach them. The Ducks keep on fluttering away on all sides ; 

 but the pied group still remain. I fire ; one pied fellow re- 

 mains motionless, the rest, seven or eight in number, stream 

 away with what speed they can, which is not much. As they 

 rise I note the long legs and curved bill, and am annoyed to 

 find that my new Duck is only an Avocet ! My companion 

 shot a second on another part of the marsh. It was in com- 

 pany with two or three others on the mud, who were "larking" 

 with it, running backwards and forwards past one another with 

 speed. In the two birds procured we had fortunately both 

 sexes. I carefully compared them, as is my wont, with descrip- 

 tions of the Eui'opean species with which the Chinese species 

 has been hitherto confounded ; and I was not a little surprised 

 to find that my birds present diffbrences which justify their 

 separation at least as a variety or conspecies. As in the case of 

 the Coot, the descriptions of Temminck and Selby are too scanty 

 to afibrd nice discrimination ; but the peculiar marks in this 

 Avocet are too noticeable to be omitted in even a cursory sketch 

 of the bird, and it is curious that Pallas did not mark them in 

 the Siberian bird. These peculiarities are not due to youth, 

 sex, or individual variation, as my birds are of different sexes, 

 both adult, and both have them. The Chinese species difl"ers 

 from the old Recurvirosfra avocetta in having the back of tlie 

 lower neck and upper back light grey, and the middle tail- 

 feathers grey, tipped with black, instead of pure white in both 



