406 Mr. R, Swinhoe on Amoy Ornithology, 



and said that they had never seen its hke before. Its bill was 

 black. Iris dark bright brown, and its legs blackish-brown. 



Curious again ! this is the second and only other bird ob- 

 served by Dr. Giglioli in South China that I had not procured 

 before. Writing to me on the 26th January 1867 from Hong- 

 kong, he says, "The other day, amongst some bamboos near 

 Government House, I saw a tiny bird, smaller than Reguloides 

 proregulus, which emitted a very peculiar call. I was able to 

 see him distinctly for some time. He had a short tail, slender 

 curved bill like Certhia, was greyish-white beneath, green above, 

 with a light crimson-red rump. It looked very like a Dicaum. 

 Have any been described from China ?^' It will be seen that 

 this description answers well to the female of D. coccineum. 



The country that we visited was not what one would call 

 wooded ; but copses and small groves stood about in diflferent 

 directions, chiefly in the neighbourhood of villages. The finest 

 trees that composed them were Pines, Banyans, and the Liqui- 

 dambar formosana, Hance. Every grove had its pair of small 

 Day-Owls, Athene cuculoides. They uttered a series of hollow- 

 sounding notes, and were very shy. They had not yet begun 

 to lay. The natives called them the " Small Cat-headed Bird." 

 The higher hills were bare of trees ; but the ravines were im- 

 penetrable on account of the overgrowth of reeds and long dank 

 grass, amongst which marks of small quadrupeds were fre- 

 quent, and the odour of Civets strong. Some native hunters 

 brought us a Viverricula indica that they had shot. It was a 

 pale example, and had very faint markings. By one copse we 

 saw the fresh dung and marks of a Tiger, and heard much of 

 their occasional visits to the villages, but we came across none. 

 The hunters also brought us a Partridge, Francolinus perlatus, 

 which they had shot. We induced them to let us accompany 

 them, and they twice gave us a treat with their dogs. Their 

 hunting-dogs were smaller than the ordinary house-dog of 

 China, known to Europeans as the " Wolf Dog." They were 

 white, with the fleshy parts reddish. Their hair was shorter, 

 and they were brighter-looking than the above watch-dog breed. 

 They were called by the hunters with the singular sounds " Hoo- 

 ho-ho-ho." They picked up the scent and followed it with ra- 



