Fauna of Amoy. 



6229 



The most diminutive of all stands next, the little tailor bird [Ortho- 

 tomtis), remarkable for its long pointed bill, which serves as a needle 

 in sewing leaves together round its nest ; the under side oT a long 

 leaf of the Alpinia nutans is often chosen, the edges of which are 

 drawn together by thread made of spider's web and fibres. The 

 prettiest construction of the kind I have seen was a nest flanked in 

 by three orange-leaves, and placed at the extremity of the bough of 

 an orange tree. This bird is called Mang-tang-a in the vernacular. 



A genus of long- tailed birds, closely allied to the last, is found 

 wherever bushes abound, the longtails (or Priniae). Their song is 

 sweet, but never varied. 



The Zosterops, white or mealy eye, Fun-yen and Chi° -si-a, little 

 green and yellow birds, with a peculiar ring of white feathers round 

 the eye ; and a species of tomtit (Pariis) may be met with all the year 

 through. 



Time would not suffice were I to give separate remarks on each 

 indigenous species. I must not, however, pass over a very singular 

 bird of the tribe Tenuirostres, by no means uncommon in Amoy, and 

 which cannot help attracting notice by its gay colours and peculiar 

 form ; I mean the hoopoe {Upupa Epops of Linneus), also found in 

 Europe, and a rare straggler in Great Britain. It is a bird of a buff- 

 fawn colour, striped transversely with black, and adorned with a 

 beautiful ci'est of long lax feathers, banded alternately with red and 

 black, which he is capable of raising or depressing at pleasure. The 

 awkward gait of the bird ; its occasional tapping on the ground with 

 its long bill, as if with a walking-stick ; and its singular habit of 

 bowing when disturbed, would of themselves make the creature an 

 object of interest ; but what is most peculiar is its cry of hoo-poo-jjoo 

 (whence its name), produced by drawing the air into the trachea, 

 which puffs out on each side of his neck, and forcing it out again by 

 striking the point of his bill against the ground, each stroke pro- 

 ducing a separate and distinct note. It is looked upon with some 

 aversion by the Chinese, on account of its often selecting dilapidated 

 coffins to nestle in, and is nicknamed by them the coffin-bird. I 

 have found the nest in an exposed coffin, as also in the city wall. 

 The young are very timid, and make a strange hissing noise when 

 crying for food. 



The Ardeada^, or herons, as might be expected from the large 

 tracts of paddy fields, abound in their species, prominent among 

 which stands the heron of Great Britain (Ardca cinerea)^ also found 

 here. Flocks of the beautiful white egret, or paddy bird, as they are 



