332 Mr. R. Swinhoe's Notes on Ornithology 



knowing, and would seldom allow you to come under the tree 

 in which they were sporting. 



38. Lesser Ox-eye. Parus minor, Temm. & Schl. 



I never met with this species wild here, and only once saw one 

 in a cage. M. Zill assured me it was by no means rare at Chefoo. 

 Perhaps the bird is migratory in these parts, and had departed 

 southwards before our arrival. I do not think there is sufficient 

 difference between this and Parus cinereus to sanction a specific 

 separation. I have shot very grey-backed birds at Amoy ; and 

 in Hongkong the specimens procured are certainly identical with 

 a skin of P. cinereus lately received from Mr. Blyth. 



39. Pale Redwing. Turdus pallidus, Gmelin. 

 A few of these birds were about in September. 



40. Red-tailed Fieldfare. Turdus ? 



This Thrush resembles somewhat T. naumanni; but a differ- 

 ence is at once seen in the brownish-red side-feathers of the tail, 

 which are conspicuously displayed when the bix*d flies. A few 

 arrived about Peking in October, and frequented the leafless 

 groves, where they would perch on the topmost boughs of the 

 twigs three or four at a time. The note was a kind of chuckling 

 chirp, and differed much from the ordinary sibilant "sit " uttered 

 by all the other species found in China. The affinities of this 

 Thrush are certainly with the Fieldfare. 



I may here state I have T. naurnanni from Amoy, shot here on 

 several occasions, and identified by Mr. Blyth. A Thrush-like 

 Geocincla has also been procured at Amoy on two occasions. This 

 Mr. Blyth declares to be his Turdus dissimilis, once procured in 

 Calcutta. But one of this last species, shot at Hongkong, and 

 included among my birds from Hongkong, Macao, and Canton, 

 forwarded to Mr. Sclater in June last, has been identified by 

 him as the young of Turdus cordis. (See antea, p. 37.) 



41. MONTICOLA ? 



The specimen I enclose was the only one I ever saw of this 

 interesting bird. I met with it on the 26th of September in a 

 grove of pines. It was very lively, hopping about from branch 

 to branch with its eye fixed upon me. It occasionally bobbed its 



