358 Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, 6fc. 



grey, the longer purplish-black. Vent deep grey, with a vina- 

 ceous tinge. Axillaries bright cinnamon. Flank -feathers with 

 white shafts, enormously thick and pointed. Bill with the basal 

 third dull madder, the rest to tip light bright coral-red. Iris 

 deep rich madder-brown. Rim round the eye and eyelid mad- 

 der — nearly the colour of the base of the bill ; legs almost the 

 same, but rather redder, with pale, somewhat horn-coloured 

 under-edges, soles, and claws, scutellations pale and distinctly 

 marked. Tarsal joint bare. Length 9"5 inches. Bill from 

 forehead "62 inch, from gape "87 inch. Wing imperfect, and 

 therefore not measured. Tail 3*62 inches, and wedge-shaped. 

 Tarsns 1*1 inch; middle-toe and claw I'l inch. The specimen, 

 a male, with well-developed testes. 



A few small parties of Hetcsrornis sinensis have been about for 

 the last day or two, probably driven by the late gales from their 

 usual route of migration up the mainland of China. They do 

 not appear to summer in Formosa. A few couple of Lobipes 

 hyperboreus have also been seen. The first pair I watched from 

 the point looking to seaward, just outside the mouth of the har- 

 bour. They were floating close together in a chopping sea, and 

 breasted the breaking ripple with great ease and unconcern. 

 I sent a boat and some men after them, but she was so unsteady 

 that the first four shots missed. The birds did not get frightened 

 at the report, but swam nearer to each other, when the fifth 

 barrel put an end to their existence. The next day (30th March) 

 I saw a pair busily engaged in feeding inside the harbour, on 

 some straw and filth thrown from a junk. These were just as 

 fearless, and we easily procured them. One had the maggot of 

 a blow-fly sticking in his throat. All four birds were in winter- 

 plumage, with just a sign here and there of the coming nuptial 

 tints. 



My list of rarities for the month of March closes with an 



Aedea goisagi, Temminck. 



I procured it from a fisherman, who had caught it on the 

 sands close to this port. This is the first instance of its occur- 

 rence here, and at Tamsuy I only procured it once. If indi- 

 genous to the island, it would appear to be extremely rare. 



