438 MR. R. SWINHOE ON CHINESE ZOOLOGY. [June 9, 
pekinensis, David). Sitta villosa, Verr., occurred (itself almost a Tit 
in habits) running along the slender twigs of the trees and hanging 
about the leaves, fighting and pursuing one another, and at times 
giving utterance to a lively chatter a good deal like that of Lanius 
lucionensis, Strickl. I was enabled to get several specimens. The 
males differ from the females in having a black cap. It has a very 
close ally in Sitta canadensis, L., of North America. A pair of 
Ruticilla aurorea (Pall.) had hatched a brood of young in the 
grounds, and were feeding their spotted fledglings on the stone 
parapet. The sun was setting, and we were leaving the place annoyed 
at our bad luck, when an Owl popped out of its roost in the bosom 
of atree. I winged it; and after a hunt we secured a fine specimen 
of a Wood-owl, which seems to be the Himalayan race Syrnium ni- 
vicolum, Hodgs.— 9. Length 16°5 inches; tail 7°25; wing 11°75; 
wing-tip to end of tail 1:75. Inrides black. Skin round eye yellowish 
flesh-colour. Bill wax-yellow with tinge of green. Soles of feet 
yellow; exposed part of toes greenish yellow, as also are the bases 
of the claws, rest of claws blackish brown. 
The distance from Changpingchow to the tombs is about nine miles. 
On the 19th I crossed the hills and paid another visit to H.M. 
Minister at Lingshansze temple. Several temples stand on higher 
positions up the hill-side, and many of them were occupied—one by 
the American legation, another by the Chaplain to the British lega- 
tion, and others by the secretaries and students also of our legation. 
These were all attainable by stone steps winding through the ravines 
and over the hill-sides. The ravines were well planted with trees, 
of which the chestnut-leafed oak was most in abundance; its acorns 
support the Pigs, and the acorn-cups yield a black dye. The Keel- 
reuteria flata, Bunge, with its popping pods, was also plentiful, 
and the Sophora japonica or locust-tree. This last is the commonest 
tree in the city of Peking, and is sadly infested with a green Measure- 
worm, which developes into a brownish-mottled moth. The tree 
bursts into leaf in spring, and in a few weeks stands denuded, every 
leaf having been eaten by this caterpillar. It shoots again into leaf, 
and is again stripped. Three efforts are made by the tree in the 
year, and three times it is robbed of its leaf; and yet the tree is 
abundant and does not perish. In Boston, U.S., a similar worm is 
said to make great havoc among the locust-trees of that city ; and 
to put a stop to it the citizens imported the Sparrow (Passer domes- 
ticus, L.); but Passer montanus, L., abounds in Peking; yet the 
Measure-worm multiplies in spite of it. A scented Artemisia 
spreads everywhere on these hills, scattering a dust-like yellow pollen. 
A sprig of this is placed in the headgear between the ears of Mules 
and Donkeys to keep off the blood-sucking flies that swarm on the 
backs of the ears of the poor beasts. The plant is twisted by the 
country people into ropes, which are burned to ward off mosquitoes. 
In this neighbourhood the commonest Cicada that deafens you is the 
green one of the south, about an inch and a quarter long. It keeps 
on crying ‘ Kwai-kwai,”’ &c., for some time, and then finishes with 
a prolonged ‘‘sze.’? A second is a large dark-brown species called 
