432 MR. R. SWINHOE ON CHINESE ZOOLOGY. [June 9 
west of the city), others further westward. The diplomatic corps of 
the various nations, and even the missionaries, all retreat, the junior 
members of the legations taking it in turns to reside in town to 
report on occurrences and to keep up communications. Thus by 
the end of June the members of the British legation had migrated 
to their summer habitat; and I was glad to avail myself of an invi- 
tation to follow. The temple I visited on this occasion was the Black- 
Dragon Temple, over the first range of hills to the left of the gardens 
of the Summer Palace, and about twenty miles from the legation in 
Peking. The Black Dragon is the deity the Chinese appeal to on 
occasions of great drought ; and such an occasion had occurred before 
my arrival in Peking. The mandarins were in great trouble because 
the heavens proved obstinate. They prohibited the slaughter of 
animals for food and tried every form of prayer, but in vain. At 
Jast one of the wise men suggested that the ancient manner of ap- 
peasing the wrath of the Black Dragon was to offer him a Tiger’s 
skull. Peking was searched for the article ; but the medicine shops 
had it only in the form of powdered drug. The Inspector-General 
of Customs asked if a Tiger’s skin would do as well, as he had one 
which he would sacrifice for the purpose. Nothing but a skull was 
acceptable. At last one was secured, and with great ceremony car- 
ried to the temple and sunk in the pretty pool overshadowed by 
trees within its walls. In the evening clouds began to gather, and 
the next day there were copious and refreshening showers. I was in 
hopes of finding this skull, as I was very anxious to get a skull of 
the northern Tiger in order to determine whether it be the same 
species as that of Bengal; but some one had been before me, the 
skull was gone. 
On our way outside the Tihshing Mén, or “ Gate of Victory’’ (the 
gate the British troops occupied in 1860), we came upon a large 
patch of reeds and rushes with its noisy inhabitants. ‘They consisted 
of two species of reed-birds—the Calamoherpe aédon (Pall.), and a 
smaller bird something like our Reed-wren. The latter was very 
abundant, chattering in all directions ; but it was not easy among the 
reeds to procure specimens. I shot a female; and, judging from 
her bare belly and worn appearance, she must just have left the nest. 
The male hopped down a rush to look at her; and several others 
appeared, to learn the cause of the disturbance. Before I had re- 
loaded they had all retired again. I had not more time to devote to 
them. The specimen procured is a Reed-wren allied to Calamo- 
herpe arundinacea, Gmel., and C. dumetorum, Blyth, in colour, but 
may at once be distinguished from the former by the band of dingy 
cream-colour that crosses the loral space extending from the nostril 
to the eye,—and from the latter by its white throat and breast ; it 
has a thicker bill, shorter wing with longer first primary and different 
proportions of the other primaries, more graduated tail, and paler 
legs. I will introduce it as the 
CALAMOHERPE CONCINENS, Sp. nov. 
Upper parts olive-brown; lore cream-white ; cheeks and sides of 
