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This total of about 800 birds for all 

 China is based on the list printed by 

 Pare David in 1877. A number of 

 doubtful species were admitted to his 

 list which have been since rejected, 

 on the other hand a few new 

 ones have been added, so the total 

 remains substantially the same. In 

 the present state of the ornithology 

 of China more exact figures would 

 be difficult to give, but these round 

 numbers may be accepted as a working 

 basis until further data are obtained. 



The Yangtse Valley, forming the 

 boundary line between the Northern 

 and Southern zones, is a most 

 interesting field in which to study the 

 birds of China. Being on the border 

 line, many birds from both zones 

 occur. Our winter visitants come 

 down to escape the Arctic cold which 

 settles over their nesting homes during 

 the winter ; while many of the sub- 

 tropical birds reach this as the limit of 

 their northern migration. 



In 1891, Mr. F. W. Styan published 

 a list of 359 birds occuring in the 

 Yangtse Basin, between Hankow and 

 the sea, which he classified as 

 follows : — 



Breeders ; Eesident ... 90 

 Summer 



Visitants 52 ... 142 

 Non-breeders ; Winter 



VisitantslOl 

 Migrants... 97 



Strays 11 



Doubtful... 8 ... 217 



Total 359 



In 1894 and 1899, Mr. Styan added 



a number of other species to this list. 

 A revision of these lists was 



published in 1912 in the Journal of 



