364 Mr. R. Swinkoe on Chinese Ornithology. 



gape 2"9, depth at base '38, colour yellowish brown, black on 

 apical third, greenish at base. Ear large, '25 below eye in 

 direct line. Tibia bare for '32; length of tarse 1*4, of mid- 

 dle toe and claw 1*65; outer toe longer than inner ; colour 

 of toes yellowish brown strongly tinged with green; claws 

 bla,ck. The black of the upper part of the plumage is glossed 

 with purple. 



Dissection. Stomach oval, flattened at its sides, lined with 

 a movable thick rugose epithelium, containing small young 

 Vivipara and remains of freshwater insects. Intestines thin ; 

 caeca at some distance from the anus, very long and bulging 

 at ends as in G. scolopacina. 



The plumage of this specimen answers to the description in 

 the ' Fauna Japonica ' of the Solitary Snipe, but differs in the 

 colour of the rump, and in the want of bars on the tertiary 

 quills. If the authors of that work took their description from 

 a Japanese specimen, then we must suppose that the species 

 varies greatly. But I cannot help suspecting that the account 

 is taken in fact from a Nepalese specimen as well, especially 

 as Bonaparte separated the two birds. I must wait till I get 

 more specimens ; but I half believe that our bird is a con- 

 species of the Himalayan, and will have to stand as G. ja- 

 ponica, Bp. A friend from Ningpo, who was visiting me the 

 other day, recognized the bird at once. He said he had shot 

 them at Ningpo in winter. He has sprung them in retired 

 places at the foot of the hills. When flushed they only fly a 

 short distance and then drop. They are so large that they 

 are sometimes mistaken for Woodcocks. There was a pair 

 in Pere David's museum at Pekin. 



Snipes have been abundant in the market throughout my 

 stay here ; but G. scolopacina has been the only species. I 

 have not detected a single G. horsfieldi. On the 4th April 

 the first spring Snipes, G. megala, were offered for sale. 



Archibuteo aquilinus is a commoner bird here than Buteo 

 japonicus ; I have procured two of the former to one of the 

 latter. From the market I have also got Circus cineraceus, 

 several of Accipiter nisus, and one young male Falco cesalon. 

 I find that Pere Heude's new Hawk (see ' Ibis/ January, 



