28 
Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Ornithology 
The shot alarmed him; he never returned. Residents assure me 
that this bird is of frequent occurrence there, and that at night¬ 
time they may often be seen, seated on the tops of the houses 
facing the harbour. From the casts and excrement being fre¬ 
quently met with, I should certainly imagine that they were 
pretty abundant. 
On my return from Macao I was fortunate enough to procure 
the specimen that I send herewith. It was in this wise. Mr. 
Wilford (the botanist sent out by Sir William Hooker) was 
out with me for a ramble in the neighbourhood of Jardine, 
Matheson and Co.’s grounds, close to a ravine, where a lot 
of small Chinese boys had gathered round us to see our sport. 
They pointed to some Kites that were diving at one another 
some distance over our heads, and for the amusement of the 
small boys, I fired at them twice. The shot must have tickled 
them, for they dropped the bone of contention, a putrid duck’s 
head. But the report of the discharges reverberating along the 
ravine startled a dozing Ketupa, and out he came from his roost, 
and settled on a rock a long way up the hill. He flew out so 
quietly that we should probably not have observed him had it 
not been for the Kites, who soon spied him, and kept hovering 
over him and flying down at him. Not enjoying their indig¬ 
nities, and observing that all near was pretty safe, the Owl quietly 
dropped under cover, as he evidently fancied, unobserved by us. 
Upon this I rushed up the hill, and got a good position on a 
large rock above the spot where he had sunk to rest, and left my 
comrade and his noisy juvenile Celestials to follow. As these 
clambered up the hill, they chatted and laughed, and made a 
great noise. The Owl, finding them too near, bounced out, and 
flapped as hard as he could up the ravine, past the rock on which 
I was sitting, whence I got an easy shot at him, and tumbled 
him over. The little boys soon scrambled after him, and drew 
out the magnificent fellow. I was hitherto under the impression 
that he was Bubo maximus , which I have met with at Amoy; but 
imagine my joy, when, by the naked tarsus, I discovered a totally 
distinct bird. 
He measured 21^ in. in length; wing from flexure 16 in .; 
expanse about 3 feet 9 inches. Tail 7^ in., somewhat graduated 
