130 Mr. R. Swinlioe's Ornithological Notes made at Chefoo. 



12 rectriceSj lateral '3 shorty the rest nearly equal ; under tail- 

 coverts '9 short of tail-tip, upper tail-coverts 1'8 short. Bill 

 from forehead, and rictus, 4 inches. Bare tibia 'S. Tarse 2*2, 

 middle toe and claw 1*68. Legs and feet rose-pink, with flesh- 

 coloured soles and brownish grey claws. Ins blood-red ; eye- 

 lids and bill bright red orange, or red-lead, with homy yellow 

 tips to latter. Below under eyelid a patch of white feathers, 

 surmounted by a rim of black. White of the body faintly 

 tinged with rose-colour. Its length of bill, and the black 

 spots on the tips of its upper tail-coverts, show as good 

 marks to distinguish this species from its European ally, H. 

 ostralegus, L. 



On dissection the body was found to contain a large cluster 

 of partly developed eggs, some nearly ready for exclusion. 

 Trachea simple. Proventriculus about 1*4 inch. Stomach 

 long and narrow, 1'6 long by '7 broad. Epithelium rugose 

 and sticky, containing yellow juice. Intestines 4 feet 3^ 

 inches long ; caeca 2^ from anus, 3^ long. No false csecum, 

 as in the Scolopaces. 



On the 15th of May Mr. Campbell sent me the male. It 

 was at Talienwan of the promontory on the opposite side of 

 the Gulf of Pechelee that I found this species before, during 

 the breeding-season (see ' Ibis,^ 18G1, p. 261). 



Mr. Campbell, as I have before noted, observed that his 

 pair of Oystercatchers came from North Rock, to which 

 they returned when they had finished feeding on the mud 

 flats of Kung Kungtan. Constable Webster visited the Rock 

 on the 22nd of June. He found this small uninhabited island 

 had a narrow grassy plateau on the top of its rocks facing the 

 land. Near the edge of this he noticed several pairs, and in 

 some cases triplets, of eggs lying each set in a depressed spot 

 without nest of any kind. No bird was near them. He 

 counted six or seven such sets. The first egg he took up 

 burst in his hand, and he found it putrid ; he picked up 

 another from another depression ; and on finding it fresh 

 when he purposely broke it, he brought its fellow for me, to- 

 gether with four more of what seemed to him to be freshest. 

 He then looked about for the proprietors ; and seeing no birds 



