Mr. R. Swinhoe on Chinese Ornithology. 269 
its iris to be always black. This convinced me that the Can¬ 
ton bird with the yellow iris must be distinct. It had passed 
into the Norwich Museum; but I had with me a rufescent 
bird of the same race from South Fokien. Mr. J. H. Gurney 
lent me the Norwich specimen ; and after careful comparison 
with my series of its Chinese ally, I beg to offer the following 
distinctive characters under a name taken from its chestnut- 
coloured knee [fcagirr] = fleocus ):— 
Lempijius erythrocampe. 
This is a smaller bird than typical L. glabripes i mihi. It 
is to be distinguished by the patch of brown round the eye 
continuing backwards to the ear-tuft. Its collar is not con¬ 
tinued across the breast. The reddish bands across the wing- 
quills are broader, and there is a distinct patch of cinnamon 
on its knee-joints (whence its name). I transcribe from the 
paper above referred to my notes on the fresh Canton bird. 
Length 8*5 inches, wing 7, tail 3 6. Bill pale flesh-grey,with 
a pale yellowish rim to the mandibles. Eyes very large, about 
•8 inch in diameter; iris golden burnt-sienna, but so narrow, 
that this colour is seldom visible, the immense pupil filling 
nearly all the space between the lids. Skin round the eye 
madder-brown. Ear-coverts very large and oval, nearly f inch 
in length by about f in width, the lunar-shaped orifice oc¬ 
cupying about one third of the oval on the part distant from 
the eye ; colour of the conch-rim yellowish, inside light blue- 
grey. Legs feathered to the end of tarsus; toes naked, light 
brownish flesh-colour; claws light brownish grey, with black¬ 
ish tips. There were numerous eggs in the ovary. 
A female L. glabripes was brought to me up country at 
Ningpo on the 28th May, together with its five young. In 
the old bird the iris was black ; in the young birds deep blue. 
About this date, at the same place, the report of a gun fired 
at some Crows startled a female of this species from a hollow 
in the side of a large tree, which was partly filled up with 
debris and rubbish. The bird was shot, and a day or two 
after I sent a man to examine the hollow. After much search 
he came upon three round white eggs ; their contents all gone, 
u 
SER. III.-VOL. IV. 
