of Hongkong, Macao , and Canton. 
5. Milvus govinda, Sykes*. Brahminy Kite. 
Common. 
6. Micronisus ——?f. Small Blue Sparrow-Hawk. 
We were watching some Swallows (H. gutturalis) sporting 
over a pond, when suddenly a small short-winged Hawk ap¬ 
peared among them, and would certainly have caught one had 
not one of my comrades brought him down with a broken wing. 
The little fellow was much excited, and fought hard with his bill 
and claws for life. He was a much handsomer bird than M. 
badius, though about the same size ; blue-grey above ; beneath 
banded with dark undulating lines; the flanks and belly deeply 
washed with buff ochre. The bill was blue-black; the cere, iris, 
and legs golden yellow, with black claws. The specimen was 
accidentally lost, being served up at table by the Chinese servant 
in mistake for a pigeon. 
This same species is by no means uncommon in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Hongkong, and you often see them even over the 
streets of Victoria, poising with almost motionless wing, while 
the tail is continually opened and shut like a fan. The length of 
tail and shortness of wing at once distinguish this bird from 
the Wind-hover or Kestrel, which species, so common at Amoy, 
seldom fell under my notice here. At Canton, several of these 
small Hawks were nesting in a grove of pines. The nests w r ere 
small and cup-shaped, and placed high up, near the tree top. I 
was unable to procure either the eggs or young, nor did I succeed 
in securing a second specimen of the mature bird. 
7. Athene-?{. 
A small brown Owl, with transverse yellowish bars and spots. 
This bird was brought to me alive by a Chinese at Canton, and 
* Mr. Blyth (J. A. S. B. xxx. p. 95) seems to consider the Chinese Kite, 
Milvus melanotis of the ‘ Fauna Japoniea/ as distinct; but Mr. Gurney in¬ 
forms me that his Chinese specimens are not different from M. govinda of 
India.—P. L. S. 
t This is probably Micronisus soloensis (Horsf).—P. L. S. 
X This Athene seems to be Noctua cuculoides, Vigors (Gould’s Cent, 
pi. 4), already recognized by Blyth (Cat. Mus. As. Soc. p. 39) as occurring 
in Chusan.—P. L. S. 
25 
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