Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Ornithology of Hainan. 77 



by. We found a nest of four hard-set eggs on April 8th, and 

 others containing young birds a fortnight later. 



40. Asio oTUs (L.). Long-eared Owl. 



We shot one specimen on the mountains of Macedonia, and 

 afterwards found the species breeding on a low island in the 

 Danube, covered with a dense thicket of willows. The young 

 were three parts grown on the 1st of May; so that nidification 

 must have been begun before the ice broke up on the river. 



41. Asio brachyotus (L.). Short-eared Owl. 



Breeds commonly in the Dobrudscha, where we obtained one 

 or two nests, but did not find it anywhere else. 



42. Syrnium aluco (L.). Tawny Owl. 



This cannot be a common species, as we never saw or heard 

 it ; but Mr. Robson has obtained it more than once. In his col- 

 lection was a pefectly black Owl which no doubt was a melanite 

 variety of this species. 



43. Strix flammea, L. Barn-Owl. 



Not observed by us, but included in Lord Lilford's list. 



44. Nyctea tengmalmi (Gmel.). Tengmalm's Owl. 

 Said to have once occurred at Corfu (Ibis, 1860, p. 133). 



[To be continued.] 



V. — On the Ornithology of Hainan, 

 By Robert Swinhoe, F.Z.S. &c. 



(Plate IV.) 



After my successful researches in the island of Formosa*, I 

 was determined, should an opportunity offer itself, to pay a visit 

 to the island of Hainan. The opportunity came in the spring 

 of 1868, when Her Mnjesty's Minister at Peking, being de- 

 sirous to obtain information on the commercial capabilities of 

 that island, with a view to opening a port in it for European 

 trade, gave me instructions to repair thither in a gunboat to 

 prosecute inquiries, the whole cruise not to extend over two 



* Cf Ibis, 1860, pp. 186, 187, 359-361 ; 1863, pp. 198-219, 250-311, 

 377-435 ; 1864, pp. 361-370, 425-429. 



