94 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [No, 1, 



sized Dog, with a snout like a Hog, small eyes, no eares [the particular specie3 

 has a small ear-conch], but two lobes where his eares should be ; it had foure feete 

 like an Elephant, the tayle beginning somewhat upon the backe, broad and then 

 flat, and at the very end round and somewhat sharpe. It ranne along the hall 

 upon the floore, and in every place in the house snorting like a Hog. The whole 

 body, tayle, and legs being covered with scales of a thumbe breadth, harder than 

 iron or steel [!]. We hewed and layed upon them with weapons, as if men should 

 beate upon an anvill, and when we strooke upon him, he rouled himself in a heape, 

 head and feet together, so that he lay like a round ball, we not being able to 

 judge whether he closed himself together, neyther could we with any instrument 

 or strength of hands open him againe, but letting him alone and not touching 

 him, he opened himself and ranne away, as I said before." 



So little is known of the mammalia of China that any contribution on the 

 subject is of interest to zoologists, There is an animal known at Shanghai as the 

 c Musk Cat,' which I suspect is a species of Marten unknown to naturalists. It 

 is thus described : — 



" A beautiful animal, of about the size of the common Cat, but longer in form ; 

 in fact, somewhat resembling the Marten, with a long bushy tail, like the brush 

 of a Fox. Emits an exceedingly powerful and by no means disagreeable musky 

 odour. Lives in holes of the ground, and also climbs into trees and bushes in 

 search of birds and their nests. Exceedingly destructive to the Pheasants (Pha- 

 SlANtrs toeqttatus) when sitting ; and is much hunted by the natives for its 

 fur." Bengal Sporting Magazine, n. s. II, 642 (1845). Probably identical with 

 the " large Marten" of the Amur territory noticed in Jonm. Boy. Geogr. Soc, 

 XXVIII (1858), p. 424. 



Again, in the bird class, there is a Chinese Bustard well known to sportsmen 

 from Amoy and also to the northward, but which has not yet been systematically 

 described, so far as I can learn. The following is a notice of it from the same 

 paper, p. 529. 



" A species of Bustard, somewhat like the common mottled English Turkey, 

 only smaller. These birds are generally found singly, at least during the time 

 we were there (November and the winter months being the season in which we 

 beat for them) : they are exceedingly shy and difficult of approach, and are 

 usually found in the long grass and fir-clumps : they seem to rise with difficulty, 

 running a considerable distance preparatory to their taking wing, during which 

 time they call and cackle, which seems extraordinary, a3 they are generally found 

 as odd birds." Mr. Swinhoe is well aware of the existence of this Bustard, but 

 hitherto has been unable to procure a specimen, on account of the estimation in 

 which it is held for the table. 



For the same reason, comparatively few skins of Bustards are preserved any- 

 where, especially of the larger species ; and so it happened that the Great Bus- 

 tard of Australia, though met with even by Cook and repeatedly mentioned by 

 Flinders and other early navigators, remained unknown to European naturalists 

 until Mr. Gould's visit to that country ! Capt. Cook, it may not be remembered, 

 on his first voyage, proceeding northward from Botany Bay, lauded a second 

 time on the continent of Australia, a little to the south of the Tropic of Capri- 

 corn, and there he shot " a kind of Bustard weighing 17 lbs.," and named the 

 landing-j)lace Bustard Bay ! 



From a notice published in the ' Journal of the Royal Geographical Societv,' 

 Vol. XXVIII, 148 (1858), it appears that—" Of birds, the black and the white 

 Cockatoos, bronze-winged Pigeons of various kinds, and the Bustard (or ' wild 

 Turkey' of the colonists), were all found in the valley of the Victoria, but they 

 were all much smaller than their kindred of the south." Probably, therefore, dis- 

 tinct species, according to the common acceptation of the phrase, or such as 

 would be figured as different species by Mr. Gould. 



In a collection of Chinese paintings of birds, among numerous species at once 

 recognisable, was one of a very fine BoNASA or ' Buffed Grouse,' as yet unde- 

 scribed. The collection referred to was taken to England by the late Viscount 

 Hardinge. 



