Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 215 



December, 1859: — "Bill bluish black, j)al(;r on the base; cere 

 light greenish yellow ; eyes fine waxen or primrose-yellow ; inside 

 of mouth leaden blue ; legs yellow-ochre, with black claws." The 

 females of this species have yellowish-brown irides, and so much 

 resemble those of the Marsh-Harrier (C (eruginosus) that Mr. 

 Blyth identified an example I sent him as of that species ; but 

 as I had frequently seen individual brown birds in company with 

 the pied ones, I was led to doubt the assertion. On the rush- 

 grown sand-flats at the mouth of the Changchow River, near 

 Amoy, these birds are particularly common during winter, but 

 they arc nearly always females. I do not know for what reason ; 

 but in this locality the adult male is peculiarly rare until the 

 spring, when a few may occasionally be met with. In many 

 points of habit this bird seems to connect the Harriers with the 

 Govinda Kites, feeding largely on offal and carrion, as well as on 

 Batrachians and small mammals. All these objects I have found 

 in the stomachs of those I have dissected ; but remains of birds 

 never. In its heavy-sailing flight this species also more re- 

 sembles Kites than a Harrier. They were such offensive birds 

 that I did not care to preserve more than a few for identification. 

 Mr. Gurney writes me that he has seen specimens of C. spilo- 

 notus from Singapore, as well as from the Philippines. 



Fam. STRIGIDyE. 



9. NiNOX JAI'ONICUS. 



Strix hirsuta japonica, Schleg. Faun. Jap. 



S. scutulata, Raffles. 



An individual of this species used to come regularly every 

 evening to my garden at Tamsuy, in the dusk of evening, during 

 winter, and, perching always on the same branch of one particu- 

 lar tree, devour its meal, which generally consisted of some small 

 murine mammal. I think I can be sure it was a Ninox, though 

 I procured no specimens. In my former papers I have always 

 set down the Chinese species as identical with the Indian bird ; 

 but since my return to England, Mr. Gurney has pointed out to 

 me that ours is rather the Japanese species ; and I now find, on 

 comparison with Indian specimens, that the Chinese bird is 

 larger, much deeper coloured, and differs in the shape of the wing. 



