Mr. R. Swinhoe's Notes on Chinese Ornithoioyy. 333 



and outer toes are of the same length (in Eurystomus the inner 

 toe is considerably shortei*) ; also the claw of the short hinder 

 toe seems considerably longer than in Eurystomus. The nos- 

 trils, which in Eurystomus are covered, are bare in Pseudoche- 

 lidon; and the very peculiar compression of the short broad 

 beak towards the tip is not found in the former genus. 



The only example of this small, but, in spite of its appearance, 

 very interesting bird is among the treasures of the Bremen col- 

 lection. 



XXXVI. — Notes on Ornithology taken between Takoo and Peking, 

 in the neighbourhood of the Peiho River, Province of Chelee, North 

 China, from August to December, 1860. By Robert Swtn- 

 HOE, Corr. Memb. Zool. Soc. Lond., Member of I. R. Zool. & 

 Botan. Soc. of Vienna, C. M. of the R. As. Soc. of Bengal, &c. 



From Takoo to Tangkoo, a distance of some five miles, nothing 

 but open flats of mud present themselves to the eye, relieved by 

 ditches some 10 or 20 feet wide, which communicate with the sea, 

 supplying the salt-pans with sea-water, and were used during the 

 war as impediments to the passage to and from the forts. Pools 

 of water also frequently abound, sprinkled here and there with 

 rushes. About Tangkoo, on both sides of the river, the ground 

 grows more firm and becomes covered with coarse grass and low 

 vegetation, though abounding in marshes. Numerous grave- 

 hillocks speckle the face of the flat plain, and, magnified by the 

 mirage, assume the aspect, at a distance, of small villages or houses 

 grouped together. These localities aff"ord ample shelter to the 

 small Chinese Hare {Lepus sinensis), and are frequented by nu- 

 merous species of birds. On leaving Tangkoo on the passage 

 up the river, both banks are lined with flourishing gardens and 

 orchards, abounding in great plenty in all the fruits and vege- 

 tables of the north, though further inland the country still re- 

 tains its marshy appearance, undrained and uncultivated ; and 

 it is not until you reach Hunshuy-koo, some twenty-five miles 

 up on the south bank, that cultivation springs into existence, 

 and large fields of coarse millet [Sorghum] and maize wave their 

 lofty stalks over your head and destroy your view. Villages 



