Mr. R. Swinhoe on Amoy Ornithohgjf. 409 



March 17th. — A fine live Spilornis brought to me. It had 

 been taken in a net baited with fish at Quenioy, the fellow island 

 of Amoy. Iris fine yellow, with outer black circle or rim to it. 

 This is the first time that this bird has occurred to me in China. 



March 21st. — Hen Euplocamus swinhoii laying in my aviary 

 one egg every two or three days. Began to lay on the 17th 

 instant. 



Aix glocitans, ^ , in the aviary has a short chuckling gobble 

 for call-note. The female bursts out occasionally with a loud, 

 harsh, jarring note, calling to mind the cry of some large Hal- 

 cijon. Their voices arc far from duck-like. 



Lieut. R. C. Bcavan says (P.Z.S. 186 i, p. 376) that Copsychus 

 saularis " builds in bushes." This is remarkable for so genuine 

 a Robin as this bird is. In Anioy I have only noticed its nest 

 in the holes of walls, banks, or houses, oftenest in some corner 

 of the under roof or beaming of a verandah. 



Mr. Blyth, in his most interesting " Commentary on Dr. 

 Jerdon's ' Birds of India,^ " for which students of Eastern Orni- 

 thology cannot too much thank him, says (Ibis, 1866, p. 256), 

 of Ephialtes lempiji, that there are three very similar dark-erjed 

 races. "The largest is E. rufitorques, Bonap. (Faun. Japon. 

 Aves, tab. 8, where it is figured with yellow irides, which I sus- 

 pect is a mistake)." I have not handled the actual Scops semi- 

 torques of Japan itself; but the bird we take for it in China I 

 have had under observation several times. I have described the 

 iris of an adult female specimen from Canton thus, " golden 

 burnt-sienna, but so narrow that this colour is seldom visible, 

 the immense pupil filling nearly all the space between the lids" 

 (Ibis, 1861, p. 30). Can this be also the case with the two 

 other dark-eyed races of Mr. Blyth ? If not, the Chinese race 

 would seem to be the intervening step that connects the golden- 

 eyed with the dark-eyed races of the vai'iable S. lempiji. 



March 23rd. — A friend sent me a Kite which he had shot. 

 This note about the bird may be of interest : — Milvus mela- 

 notis, $ adult. Length 23 inches ; wing 17*75 in., closed wing- 

 tip from end of tail 1*25 in.; tail 11*25 in., forked, outer 

 feathers 1 in. longer than middle. Breadth of back 5-25 in. 

 Legs and toes clear bluish-white, with dusky-buff soles and 



