228 Letters, Announcements, fyc. 



at Takow (S.W. Formosa) (noted in 'The Ibis/ 1866, p. 307) 

 was a true Scops japonicus, as the measurements will, I think, 

 show. I had it alive for some days. 



As regards Brachyotus accipitrinus (Gmel.), I once put up 

 at the back of Apes' Hill an Owl that I took for this species ; 

 but as I was not sure of it I omitted all mention of the oc- 

 currence. 



It is interesting to learn that the Merlin (F. lithofalco, 

 Gmel.) has occurred in Formosa. It is a winter visitant to 

 South China. I have had it from Amoy and Swatow. 



I think we are wrong in identifying Milvus melanotis with 

 M. govinda. Our bird has bluish white or light leaden legs 

 and feet, with sometimes a slight tinge only of yellow; 

 whereas the Indian species has the yellow always well marked. 

 In the ' Fauna Japonica ' the feet are painted bright yellow ; 

 but this must be wrong, as I cannot believe the Japanese Kite 

 to be distinct from ours. Eadde (Reisen, Taf. 1) also paints 

 his young Kite in the same way. 



I note what Mr. H.J. Elwes remarks on our two Henicuri. 

 I am not in a position here to dispute the validity of the 

 species. Among our hills H. sinensis, Gould, is a very com- 

 mon species, and I am trying to learn all I can about it. The 

 colour of the legs, feet, and claws, in all the Henicuri I know, 

 is that of pale bloodless flesh, say veal ; I fancy therefore that 

 they are wrongly coloured in the plate of H. frontalis, which 

 is otherwise excellent. 



On Mr. E. W. H. Holdsworth's catalogue of Ceylon birds 

 (P. Z. S. 1872, p. 404) I should like to make a few remarks. 

 Mr. Holdsworth describes a new species of Zosterops from the 

 Ceylon hills. I may mention that I have from Capt. Bulger's 

 collection a very similar species, marked Madras, which I 

 showed Dr. Jerdon in 1871, and pointed out to him wherein 

 it differed from Z. palpebrosus. Dr. Jerdon shrugged his 

 shoulders and said that he did not believe in the small dif- 

 ferences that people considered sufficient to separate the mem- 

 bers of this group. The Madras bird appears close to Z. cey- 

 lonensis, Holdsworth, in size and colour, but has no more 

 yellow on the under neck than the ordinary species ; in fact 



