of Hongkong, Macao, and Canton. 25 



5. MiLVus GOViNDA, Sykcs*. Brahminy Kite. 

 Common. 



6. MiCRONisus ?t. Small Blue Sparrow-Hawk. 



We were watching some Swallows [H. gutturalis) sporting 

 over a pond, when suddealy a small short-winged Hawk ap- 

 peared among them, and would certainly have caught one had 

 not one of my comrades brought him down with a broken wing. 

 The little fellow was much excited, and fought hard with his bill 

 and claws for life. He was a much handsomer bird than M. 

 badius, though about the same size ; blue-grey above ; beneath 

 banded with dark undulating lines ; the flanks and belly deeply 

 washed with buiF ochre. The bill was blue-black ; the cere, iris, 

 and legs golden yellow, with black claws. The specimen was 

 accidentally lost, being served up at table by the Chinese servant 

 in mistake for a pigeon. 



This same species is by no means uncommon in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Hongkong, and you often see them even over the 

 streets of Victoria, poising with almost motionless wing, while 

 the tail is continually opened and shut like a fan. The length of 

 tail and shortness of wing at once distinguish this bird from 

 the Wind-hover or Kestrel, which species, so common at Amoy, 

 seldom fell under my notice here. At Canton, several of these 

 small Hawks were nesting in a grove of pines. The nests were 

 small and cup- shaped, and placed high up, near the tree top. I 

 was unable to procure either the eggs or young, nor did I succeed 

 in securing a second specimen of the mature bird. 



7. Athene ?J. 



A small brown Owl, with transverse yellowish bars and spots. 

 This bird was brought to me alive by a Chinese at Canton, and 



* Mr. Blyth (J. A. S. B. xxx. p. 95) seems to consider the Chinese Kite, 

 Milvus melanotis of the ' Fauna Japonica,' as distinct ; but Mr. Gurney in- 

 forms me that his Chinese specimens are not different from M. govinda of 

 India. — P. L. S. 



t This is probably Micronisus soloensis (Horsf.). — P. L. S. 



I This Athene seems to be Noctua cuculoides. Vigors (Gould's Cent, 

 pi. 4), already recognized by Blyth (Cat. Mas. As. Soc. p. 39) as occurring 

 in Chusan. — P. L. S. 



