424 Mr. 11. Swinhoe^s Ornithological Notes made at Chefoo. 



sistance, and, as will be seen, has done good service to 

 science. 



Until the middle of May a few Gulls were about, which I 

 made out to be Larus niveus and L. crassirostris , a few Ducks 

 rested about the bays, (Edemia fusca and Glaucion clangula, 

 and a pair or two of Cormorants would fly past with out- 

 stretched necks. 



On the 30th of April the market contained a Woodcock 

 and a Spring Snipe [Gallinago megala), and on the 2nd ]\Iay 

 a live female Bustard {Otis tarda) ; but the game-season was 

 past, and it was for fish that I had to visit the market. On the 

 3rd May three young Eagle Owls [Bubo maximus), just balls 

 of down, were brought to me. They all belonged to one nest. 

 They uttered a jingling cry when suddenly laid hold of, and 

 clicked their bills at you when approached. Eagle Owls 

 appear to breed throughout the hilly portions of the China 

 coast. I have procured young birds so far south as Amoy, at 

 Ningpo, and here again at Chefoo. 



Anxious to get a view of the country, I took a sedan to 

 where the hill-range slopes down to the west beach. The 

 slope is exposed to the north and covered vnih trees planted, 

 park-like, at some distance from each other; but such is the 

 strength of the gales that blow, that the soil up the hill and 

 for miles about is covered many inches deep with sand, and 

 the trees seem to spring from a desert of sand, while the grass 

 may be seen in vain struggling through to get a peep at the 

 daylight. As the wood extends to the rear of tlie hills vege- 

 tation becomes more prominent, and the trees attain finer 

 proportions and at length yield good timber round about 

 some farms. This is a pretty park-like locality, and is known 

 here by the lovers of picnics as the " Bois de Boulogne.^^ Buds 

 were now bui'sting into leaf, and the sibilant call of the far-tra- 

 travelling Yellow-browed Warbler [Reguloides superciliosus) 

 was frequently heard, and its tiny form seen springing about 

 the boughs in pursuit of insects revivified by the returning 

 warmth. I saw no other Warblers. Tomtits {Parus minor) 

 were numerous, and noisy with their nuptial call-notes. 

 Magpies chattered about ; and almost every tall Salisburia 



