428 MR. R. SWINHOE ON CHINESE ZOOLOGY. [June 9, 
backwards soles upward, and shook up and down with every move- 
ment of the bird, having apparently no muscular power. Among 
the wild captives were a pair of my Porphyrio celestis from the 
Canton neighbourhood, and a Pelican (P. minor, Riipp.) with yel- 
lowish bill and legs, which had lived in the aviary for two years or 
more but still retained the greyish-brown markings to its feathers. 
It sat for the greater part of the day on a perch, with its head back 
and its bill on its breast. There was another bird, which interested 
me most of all; and that was an Ibis said to have been winged on 
the Canton river. I noticed at once that it was my undetermined 
friend of Talienwan (Ibis, 1861, p. 261). It was very like [dis relz- 
giosa, having, like it, a purplish-black bill, bare head and neck, the 
latter not bare to such an extent; entire plumage white, lacking the 
black tips to the wings and the desiccated purple plumes that adorn 
the back of the other. Its pectoral feathers were long and pointed, 
like in Herodias garzetta. It was about the size of J. religiosa, and 
had similar legs. I could not handle the specimen, and cannot, 
therefore, give measurements. I before supposed the Chinese species 
to be the Indian representative of the Egyptian sacred fowl I. mela- 
nocephala (Linn.) (P. Z. S. 1863, p. 60); but Jerdon’s description 
(B. of I. iii. p. 768) shows that to have black quills. There seems 
no doubt, therefore, that our species is a novelty ; and I would pro- 
pose to recognize it as Idis propingua. ‘The live specimen in the 
aviary at Canton, as I have just noted, did not show the peculiar 
dark decomposed scapulars and tertials of the two allied species, nor 
did the birds which I saw in Talienwan. 
On my way up from Hong Kong to Shanghai, off Video Island 
(near Shanghai), I saw (15th May) a Black Petrel the size of a 
Duck, and asmall flock of Guillemots. A Swallow followed us for the 
greater part of the day; and a Lanius lucionensis, Strickl., flew on 
board. In the grounds of the Shanghai Consulate they have a very 
fine pair of Grus montignesia, Bp., that have the run of the place. 
They are very tame and bold, and have lived there many years. I 
saw them on my first visit to Shanghai in 1858. In the bird-shops 
of Shanghai there were plenty of White-eyes (Zosterops erythro- 
pleurus, mihi), Pihlings (Alauda mongolica, Pall.), and Hwameis 
(Leucodiopterum sinense, L.)—also numbers of Suthora webbiana, 
G. R. Gray, caged separately and kept for fighting. The domestic 
Cormorant was also offered for sale, and the bodies of some small 
shore birds, from strings of which I was glad to secure Zgzalites 
geoffroyi (Wagler) and 4g. mongolus ( Pall.) in full summer plu- 
mage. A friend showed me a collection of fossils purchased at 
Shanghai. He had some fine Orthoceratites cbtained from the 
curiosity-shops ; the Chinese believe them to be natural photographs 
of pagodas. His collection of fossil teeth were procured at the drug- 
gists, where they are sold for medicine. Shanghai is a great centre 
for this trade; and the raw article can be procured here in quantity. 
In other large towns you can only get the prepared drug in a caleined 
state. These fossils are called Lungche, or “ Dragon’s teeth ;” and 
the idea about them is that in olden time the world consisted of 
