266 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Chinese Ornithology. 
Outside Tangier flocks of them may be seen feeding on the 
refuse which is carried from the town and thrown down on 
the sea-shore. Exceedingly tame to the natives, being viewed 
with superstitious awe by the Moors, they are wide awake 
to the European, especially if he carries a gun ; and I found 
great difficulty in shooting them, except at the nest, which, 
constructed of sticks, neatly lined with grass and small roots, 
is built in clefts of rocks, on trees and low bushes. One nest 
which I saw was fixed in the crook or angle formed by a dead 
flowering stalk of the aloe, which had fallen across another 
stalk in full flower. The eggs, usually laid about the 20th of 
April, vary in number from five to seven, and, like those of 
others of the Crow tribe, differ much in the markings. 
The following are the measurements of five specimens of 
C. tingitanus, shot near Tangier, compared with one specimen 
of C. corax, shot near Tarifa, on the Spanish side of the 
Straits:— 
1, <J. 2, S- 3,<J. 4,?. 5, 9 • C. corax 3- 
Total length.... 18 18| 19£ 18£ 20 24£ 
Wing . 14| 16± 13f 14 15 19| 
Tail . 7i 8 8 7f 9 10 
Beak. 2f 2f 2| 2± 2| 3 
Tarsus . 2f 2f 21 2f 2| 2f 
XXXI.— Notes on Chinese Ornithology . By R. Swinhoe. 
(Plate X.) 
In the last number of f The Ibis' for 1873 was published a 
letter from myself at Shanghai, in which I stated that I had 
procured in the market a Circus cineraceus in immature plu¬ 
mage. On my return to England I reexamined this Hawk, 
and made it out to be, with Mr. R. B. Sharpe's assistance, 
the immature of 
Circus melanoleucus (Gm.), 
and wrote to the Editor of f The Ibis,' correcting my mis¬ 
take (Ibis, 1873, p. 364). Mr. Gurney agrees in my pre¬ 
sent identification ; and with the Editor's kind permission, 
