Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, ^~c. 349 



Vanellus cristatus in winter plumage, shot at Swatow in No- 

 vember 1864. The most southerly locality for this bird on the 

 China coast. 



Fulica atra, the same season, also the most southern occur- 

 rence that has come to my knowledge. 



Circus ceruginosus (Marsh- Harrier). The first occurrence of 

 this species noted in China, and at a low point on the coast ; but, 

 curiously enough, it has also lately turned up at Amoy, of which 

 more anon. Captain Blakiston procured this bird in Japan. 



I had occasion to visit Hong-Kong last month. I spent the 

 14th and 15th of January there, and of course visited the bird- 

 shops. The lively half- Tit half-Robin, Liothrix lutea, was caged 

 in abundance. Perched on a bamboo, to which he was tied, 

 was a Urocissa sinensis, wild but bold and pugnacious, ruffling 

 his feathers and attacking the hand I put forward. In style 

 and manner he much resembled our Formosan friend, U. cmrulea. 

 Tlie irides, however, were of a deep burnt-sienna, tinged with 

 crimson. I have found the crimson eye to prevail in all the 

 specimens I have hitherto shot at Foochow, and, from this speci- 

 men, such would appear to be the colour of that feature in the 

 Hong-Kong bird. Whence then the live specimen in the Zoolo- 

 gical Gardens at home, with the light yellow iris ? Is it truly from 

 China ? If so, from what part ? May there not be two species on 

 the China coast ? I recollect, while in England, asserting that the 

 irides of the Chinese Urocissa were red, but my statement was so 

 much ridiculed that I began to disbelieve it myself, fancying I 

 might have been mistaken; but a sight of the Hong-Kong live bird 

 recalled the whole truth to mind. I see Dr. Jerdon (Birds of India, 

 ii. p. 310) gives the irides of his Indian U. sinensis as "fine red.^^ 



In a small cage in one shop, I saw a pair of small Finches of 

 a blue and olive plumage, with black Sparrow-like bills. They 

 were said to be from the interior of South China, but I can find 

 nothing like them in Dr. Jerdon^s pages. They were not in 

 good condition, and had no tails; so I did not purchase them. 

 What could they have been ? 



I saw several live Pheasants {Phasianus torquatus), for which 

 large prices were asked. Among them was one curious variety, 

 looking uncommonly like what I recollect of a P. mongolicus I 



