Letters, Announcements, S^c. 347 



Talvow, ForiHosa, lo Jan. 18G9. 



Sir, — I have lately come across Mr. CoUiugwood's ' Rambles of 

 a Naturalist on the Shores and Waters of the China Seas^*, and 

 have picked out thence a few things bearing on Chinese or- 

 nithology which are worth recording. Unfortunately the author 

 does not name all his birds ; but I think I can make out most 

 of them. On the 30th of April he visited the Pratas (page 28), 

 where he found " plenty of birds, and of several species, both 

 sea- and land-birds," namely : — A Buzzard, probably Bufeo ja- 

 ponicus, which is a winter visitant to the south of China ; a 

 Shrike with an ash-coloured head and a black moustache, which 

 was, without much doubt, Lanius shach ; a yellowish bird re- 

 sembling the English Siskin, Euspiza sulphurata (T. & Schl.), 

 a winter visitant to the south of China ; Petrocincla manillensis 

 (Bodd.) or Rock Thrush — '' its stomach contained the elytra of 

 beetles;" the "Blackbird" must have been Dicrurus macro- 

 cercus (for Met-ula mandarina is not a migrant) ; the Swallow, 

 glossy bluish above and speckled fawn-colour beneath, was most 

 likely Hirundo daurica ; the bright-coloured Kingfisher, very 

 like our own, was Alcedo bengalensis ; the small birds with the 

 jerking flight and the chirrup of our hard-billed perchers were 

 probably Emberiza personata ; Tringce of at least two species ; 

 the Plover of a reddish-brown colour with orange-red legs was 

 Strepsilas interpres; the Plover of a delicate mouse-coloui. with 

 yellow legs was u^yialitis minor ; the Godwit, speckled grey and 

 brown, with greenish legs and a recurved beak, was most likely 

 Totamis glottis ; the Egret is probably Buphus coromandus. A 

 Frigate-bn-d was also shot — an interesting fact, as somewhat 

 explaining the occurrence of this form at Amoy (Ibis, 1868, 

 pp. 52-58). 



The characteristic bird of the Pratas is the Gannct [Sula 



fusca) ; and an interesting account of its breeding-habits is given 



(p. 30). Of the birds enumerated, the Shrike, the Kingfisher, 



and the Rock-Thrush are the only ones that may be considered 



resident. 



Further on, Mr. Collingwood writes (p. 118) : — " Immediately 

 north of Kelung [1st June] we met with a group of three 

 * [Cf. Ibis, 18(58, pp. 473, 474.— Ed.] 



