Letters, Announcements, ^r. 123 



a pity I did not try them with fish at first. Their cry was 

 almost exactly that of a Duck. Their plumage differed entirely 

 from that described by Bonaparte in the ' Conspectus Avium. ^ 

 Indeed I think he must have confounded the young with the 

 old bird. The adult I got some time ago (Ibis, 1865, p. 359) 

 had a chestnut head, while both these immature specimens 

 have black heads. Can there be more than one species of 

 this abnormal Ardeine ? Mr. Blyth, I see, identifies (Ibis, 

 1865, p. 38) the Ai-dea melanolopha of Raffles with the Japanese 

 bird. If they are the same, the range of the species must 

 extend from Ceylon to Japan. I procured one adult bird in 

 Tamsuy, and another here ; but as I have sent them both home, 

 I cannot speak with certainty on the subject. The two nest- 

 lings I have just procured are nearly full-grown. They were 

 taken, with their mother, from a tree at the foot of the inland 

 mountains ; but, unfortunately, the parent did not reach me. At 

 a subsequent time I will endeavour to clear up the matter, and con- 

 tent myself now with giving a short description of the young 

 birds : — 



Gorsachius goisagi (young nearly full-grown) . Bill lead-colour, 

 with a yellowish tinge, blacker on the culmen and near the tip. 

 Coronal and occipital feathers fine black, with white spots and 

 streaks, those of the front having brown edges. Upper parts 

 brown, undulated, spotted, and variegated with light reddish- 

 brown, these markings being pale on the wing-coverts ; lower 

 large winglet chestnut, tipped with white, and mottled with 

 black towards the tip, the outward feather being almost en- 

 tirely black, except its broad white tip. Upper winglet black, 

 tipped with white. Quills black, broadly tipped with white, 

 which is mottled more or less with brown — some of the feathers 

 being reddish near the white, and mottled with brown. Tail 

 black. Throat white; lower part of the neck light reddish 

 ochre, undulated and mottled with blackish -brown. Rest of 

 the under plumage white, undulated with blackish-brown, and 

 variegated with light yellowish-brown. Legs bright yellowish- 

 green ; soles and hinder part of tarsus yellow ; claws pale. 

 So much for June ! I am, &c., 



Robert Swinhoe. 



