South Formosa and its Birds. 327 



quite unapproachable : we pursued thein in " tekpai " (bam- 

 boo rafts) — a most inconvenient kind of craft for this "work — 

 but gave it up in disgust. The water at the lake-edge was 

 covered with a wide band of Limnanthemum indicum, a pretty 

 water-plant with broad flat leaves and a small fluffy white 

 flower. Several Jacanas [Hydrophasianus chirurgus) were 

 walking over the leaves^ and, with a Night Heron, shot by 

 Fr. Giner, were the only other birds we saAV. The only 

 other birds of interest noticed near Takow during the rest of 

 my stay were Red-rumped Swallows, Swifts ( Cypsehis subfur- 

 catus), and two large Grey Wagtails with white wings, the 

 primaries just tipped with black, no doubt Motacilla luyens. 

 I crossed the channel on the night of the 30th November, 

 and reached Amoy next morning. 



II. — Narrative of the Expedition of 1894. 



At the beginning of February 1894, the Revenue cruiser 

 being in port, bound for the Pescadores Islands and the S. 

 coast of Formosa, I obtained leave of absence and left Amoy 

 on Feb. 8th. It blew so hard that we did not cross till the 

 10th, and anchored that afternoon before Fisher Island. 

 Numbers of Albatrosses {Diomedea albatrus), adult and dark- 

 brown birds, probably the young of this species, were seen 

 during the day, some coming quite close to the ship. About 

 Fisher Island they absolutely swarmed. The Pescadores are so 

 well known that a description is unnecessary. They are all 

 more or less flat-topped. Fisher Island (the only island we 

 visited) is perfectly bare of trees. The flat plateaux and inter- 

 vening valleys are all cultivated, ground-nuts, sweet potatoes, 

 and millet being the crops. The soil is reddish and sandy, 

 and the rock-formation columnar basalt. I saw few kinds of 

 birds. Rock -Thrushes [Monticola solitarius) were rather com- 

 mon ; Golden Plovers [Char adrius fulvus) ^ eve in ^oc^L^ on 

 the plateau near the lightship ; Larks [Alauda ivattersi) were 

 con)mon and were very tame. I shot a couple for specimens, 

 and was surprised to find the plumage strongly tinged with 

 reddish ochre, thus presenting a strong contrast to the birds 

 obtained in Formosa, which have little, if any, rufescence on 



