352 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, c^c. 



The ordinary note of my caged male is of a soft coaxing tone ; 

 but at daylight every morning, and at irregular intervals during 

 cloudy weather, it bursts out with a loud song — He-pe-pew, 

 which it repeats several times. In appearance it looks like a 

 cross between the Quail and a Turnix ; but its sternum is 

 altogether that of a Cotwnix. 



At Amoy I saw a stuffed specimen of what I believe to be the 

 true Pelicanus onocrotalus. It was much larger than the com- 

 mon P. crispus"^, and the elongated occipital feathers turned 

 downwards, instead of curling upwards. The specimen was 

 nearly mature, but without the fully developed crest of the 

 nuptial season. It had been shot, a few weeks before, on the 

 river near Amoy. Up the same river, on the 28th of January, 

 a friend shot and gave me a fine specimen of the Marsh-Harrier. 

 As this was the first instance of its occurrence in Amoy, I took 

 pains to note down its appearance while in the flesh, and I here 

 transcribe my note. 



Circus aruginosus. Length 23*5 inches; wing 7*25 inches; 

 tail 10"25 inches. Tarsi about 4 inches, feathered for more than 

 an inch in front. Middle toe 2 inches; its claw 1 inch. Legs 

 light clear yellow, with black claws. Apical half of bill blackish 

 brown, basal part bluish-grey washed with yellow, more deeply 

 on the culmen. Cere dotted with long vibrissas, curved back- 

 ward. Iris deep chocolate. Inside of mouth light greyish- 

 indigo. General plumage chocolate-brown, with basal portions 

 of the feathers white. Throat and sides of the cheeks, under the 

 eyes, white. Head the same, washed with bufi^, and blotched and 

 streaked. Scapulars with more or less white and reddish-buif. 

 Inner web of outer quills margined on basal half with white, 

 freckled with buff, and becoming browner on those approaching 

 the humeral quills. The concealed white on the basal portion 

 of many of the body-feathers washed with light chestnut. Ex- 

 treme base of tail and quills, like that of most of the other 

 feathers, pure white. The bird was infested with lice. 



The Swatow specimen, before referred to, is paler, and has 

 more white and chestnut about it. 



At a Meeting of the Zoological Society, I was asked to give 

 * Vide antea, p. Ill, note. — Ed. 



