MALAYAN OBNITHOLOGY. 187 



fifty yards, but settling again after flying round and round for a 

 few minutes. Feeding with them were a great many Yellow Wag- 

 tails (Budytes taivanus) ; and I got several specimens of both them 

 and the Sandpipers at one shot." 



Tringoides htpolettcos (Linn.). 



The common Sandpiper is plentiful in Singapore and the neigh- 

 bouring isles ; during November, 1879, I found great numbers of 

 them on the shores of Pulau Nongsa and Pulau Batam, and on many 

 occasions saw them settle on the fishing-stakes, which stand five or 

 six feet above the surface of the water. In China I once saw a 

 Sandpiper dive and swim under water with wonderful ease. I find 

 the following notes, made at the time, in my journal : — 



"6th October, 1878, Kowloon, near Hongkong. Towards even- 

 ing we left the hills and returned to our boat, near which, on the 

 sands, we shot a few "Waders. One of these, a Common Sandpiper 

 (T, hypoleucos), fell wounded into a brook ; and my dog ran to retrieve 

 it; but just as he was going to pick it up, it dived like a Duck and 

 swam under water a distance of over twenty yards. The stream 

 was of no width, and the water as clear as crystal ; and standing 

 within a couple of paces, I most distinctly saw the bird propelling 

 itself with its wings as it swam beneath the surface of the water." 



Paera sinensis (Grm.). The Pheasant-tailed Jacana. 



Late one evening in the first week in May, while shooting 

 near Saiyong jheel, on the Perak river, I was stalking a flock 

 of Teal which had gone down on some swampy ground bor- 

 dering the water, when something white darted past, which, 

 in the dark, I took to be a Goose Teal, so fired, but found that 

 instead of a Teal I had killed a most beautiful specimen of this 

 handsome bird, the only one I came across in the peninsula, 

 though in India, I believe, it is far from rare. 



It was a male in summer plumage ; length 17£ inches, of which 

 the tail of four long tapering black feathers measures 5 \ ; irides 

 brown ; beak, legs, and toes plumbeous, the toes are very long 

 and slender, and set like the spokes of a wheel, hind claw 1J 

 inch ; underparts white, barred irregularly with black ; a peculiar 

 golden mane passes along the back of the neck; the back and 

 scapulars are b?own with a bright purple gloss : wings pure white, 



