The Zoologist— October, 1870. 2319 



companions, or refresh themselves by making short excursions to the 

 adjacent homesteads. From the bamboo and fir-tree plantations, 

 which make the temples so picturesque, issue forth their clear, sweet 

 notes, mingled with the impudent ' quirk, quirk' of the magpie, the 

 harsh screech of the longtailed butcher-bird, the noisy chatter of the 

 blue jay, and the familiar chirp of the homely sparrow." — P. 93. 



Here follows a pretty picture of Haileu, the "Alceste Island" of 

 voyagers : the painter might perhaps have been excused had he 

 omitted the "blue rock-pigeon perched on a slender graceful spray 

 waving in the wind;" not because of the danger to the pigeon, but 

 because such an acrobatic deviation from his ordinary staid proceedings 

 ought not to be recorded against a bird pre-eminently fond of the safe 

 footing which solid rock affords. 



" On the rocks above water which form a portion of the reef that 

 extends about a mile round the island, lie huddled together numbers 

 of seals, which, on our approach in the boat, all tumble off into the 

 water. The fishing cormorant evidently thinks these rocks an eligible 

 station, and from them the captain, as he pulled ashore in his galley, 

 shot a beautiful white spoonbill with a lemon-coloured crest. Geese, 

 ducks and gulls are congregated together here in goodly numbers. 

 The blue rock-pigeon appears to have regularly taken possession of, 

 and to have colonized, ' Haileu,' which is the proper Chinese name 

 of the island. The number and variety of other birds which make it 

 their dwelling-place is remarkable : swallows build in the caves which 

 are hollowed out in parts of the huge trachyte cliffs, and here and 

 there, on a giant pinnacle, is found a secure eyrie for the eagle and 

 the kite.' In the chasms of the deep precipices, where the sun glints 

 on vast surfaces of shining silvery micaceous schist, on narrow ledges 

 of white gleaming trachyte, and on the black, frowning, weather- 

 stained, lichen-spotted masses which overhang the little bays, are seen 

 blue rock-pigeons walking about, cooing, bowing to each other, and 

 daintily preening their feathers. One is quietly perched on a slender 

 graceful spray, which waves in the wind from one of the fissures half- 

 way down a perpendicular wall of rock many hundred feet in descent ; 

 while others near the top seem to be paying each other polite 

 attentions on green carpets fragrant with the scent of wild blossoming 

 thyme. Hundreds fly out from the side of the cliff on the report of a 

 gun, and after a short excursion return again to the security of their 

 rocky homes. A brown owl maintains her ' ancient solitary reign ' in 



