Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 215 
December, 1859: —“Bill bluish black, paler on the base; cere 
light greenish yellow ; eyes fine waxen or primrose-yellow; inside 
of mouth leaden blue; legs yellow-ochre, with black claws.” The 
females of this species have yellowish-brown irides, and so much 
resemble those of the Marsh-Harrier ( C . ceruginosus) that Mr. 
Blyth identified an example I sent him as of that species; but 
as I had frequently seen individual brown birds in company with 
the pied ones, I was led to doubt the assertion. On the rush- 
grown sand-flats at the mouth of the Changchow River, near 
Amoy, these birds are particularly common during winter, but 
they are nearly always females. I do not know for what reason; 
but in this locality the adult male is peculiarly rare until the 
spring, when a few may occasionally be met with. In many 
points of habit this bird seems to connect the Harriers with the 
Govinda Kites, feeding largely on offal and carrion, as well as on 
Batrachians and small mammals. All these objects I have found 
in the stomachs of those I have dissected ; but remains of birds 
never. In its heavy-sailing flight this species also more re¬ 
sembles Kites than a Harrier. They were such offensive birds 
that I did not care to preserve more than a few for identification. 
Mr. Gurney writes me that he has seen specimens of C. spilo - 
notus from Singapore, as well as from the Philippines. 
Fam. STRIGIDiE. 
/ 9. Ninox japonicus. 
Strix hirsuta japonica, Schleg. Faun. Jap. 
S. scutulata , Raffles. 
An individual of this species used to come regularly every 
evening to my garden at Tamsuy, in the dusk of evening, during 
winter, and, perching always on the same branch of one particu¬ 
lar tree, devour its meal, which generally consisted of some small 
murine mammal. I think I can be sure it was a Ninox , though 
I procured no specimens. In my former papers I have always 
set down the Chinese species as identical with the Indian bird; 
but since my return to England, Mr. Gurney has pointed out to 
me that ours is rather the Japanese species; and I now find, on 
comparison with Indian specimens, that the Chinese bird is 
larger, much deeper coloured, and differs in the shape of the wing. 
