24 Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Ornithology 



only one of these I procured, which I have marked Larvivora 

 sp. ?. 



Canton, with its fine old trees towering everywhere through- 

 out the town, and its well-wooded surrounding country, literally 

 swarms with birds, and I can safely assert that no place on this 

 coast equals it for the number and variety of its Avifauna. If 

 I had spent a few months there instead of a week or two, 

 I could have swelled my collection into colossal proportions. 

 Canton is distant about ninty-eight miles by river from Hong- 

 kong, and is in the same latitude as Calcutta. 



1. Pandion haliaetus (Linn,). Osprey. 



As we steamed out of Amoy, this bird was seen soaring over 

 the bay, and at the entrance to Swatow it was seen again, 

 seated on a fishing-stake. In Hongkong I have often watched the 

 Ospreys gradually ascending into the air in large sweeping circles, 

 when their rounded tails and peculiar upward inclination of the 

 wings at once distinguish them from the Kites which abound 

 in the harbour. Pigeons before alighting have this same pecu- 

 liarity of inclining the wings upwards; and Swifts {Cypselus 

 affinis, Gray) practise the same as they dart and gambol through 

 the air before roosting, uttering the while a quick succession of 

 sharp notes. When the Osprey is seen flying overland with slow 

 heavy flaps, he has a very Buteonine aspect. 



1 was told that a large Sea-Eagle had been occasionally seen 

 at Hongkong, but, from his wariness and inaccessibility, no one 

 had succeeded in getting a shot at him. On one occasion, in 

 Amoy, I saw a very large bird of prey sitting in a tree, which I 

 took to be a Sea-Eagle. He was at least 200 yards off", yet took 

 alarm at my appearance. 



2. Palco peregrinus, Linn. 1 Both observed near 



3. TiNNUNCULUs ALAUDARius (Briss.). j Hougkoug. 



4. BuTEO JAPONicus, Bp.* Japanese Buzzard. 



A pair frequented the Happy Valley, Hongkong. I have 

 seen them early in the morning, pursuing each other with loud 

 screams. 



* Perhaps rather paler than B. vulgaris, but hardly specifically distinct, 

 according to Mr. Blyth (J. A. S. B. xxx. p. 95).— P. L. S. 



