Letters, Extracts from Correspondence, Notices, &^c. 541 



resident species, is nearly as common, T. rupicola would appear 

 to visit Formosa only in the winter, as it also does South China 

 at the same season. I have one alive. Its iris is reddish 

 orange, with a deep purplish-brown outer rim. Its note is quite 

 distinct from that of the European Turtle; and I cannot under- 

 stand why the two should be associated as simple varieties of one 

 another. Its notes might be syllabled " kurro-kurro-co6-co6,^' 

 repeated two or three times. The notes of T. chinensis run 

 " koo-koo-urh-coo," while those of T. humilis resemble the 

 sound of tree-branches grating together in the wind. There is, 

 besides, a bird known to Europeans resident in China as the 

 "White Pescadore Dove." The common belief is that it is 

 found wild on the Pescadores; but the statement that a peculiar 

 species occurs on that treeless group is scarcely worth contra- 

 dicting. It is pure white, with pinkish bill and legs, and a 

 straw-brown eye. There is no doubt that the bird is a domesti- 

 cated albino variety of a species which, from its note, I take to 

 be T. risorius. I presume this Dove came into Chinese hands 

 by way of the Straits of Malacca, >i< * * 



On the 18th April I observed a fine long-tailed male of 

 TcMtrea principalis. A similar specimen was brought to me a 

 few days after, dead. It precisely corresponded with the bird 

 which, in spring and autumn, touches at Amoy on its migration 

 to and from Japan. 



On the 23rd April, a male Podiceps minor was brought to me. 

 It had the corners of its mouth yellow, and the entire breast 

 blackish, exactly as in English specimens. There can be no 

 further doubt of our bird being identical with the European. 

 At the same time the sportsman handed me a Leaf-walker. 

 This is new to the Formosan list, though, from its occurring in 

 the Philippines and in China, there was, of course, no doubt 

 that it would also occur here. This example was engaged, with 

 several others, in walking on the water-plants in a large pond not 

 far from here. It is in complete summer-plumage, but its tail 

 is not quite fully grown : — 



Hydrophasianus chirurgus, s • Bill and legs lead-colour 

 washed in places with olive-yellow. Tail of twelve feathers, the 



N. S. VOL. I. 2 p 



