Mr. R. Swinhoe^s Ornithological Notes made at Chefoo. 429 
settlement, there were some fine trees, in which there stood 
the domed nest of a Magpie and the small open nest appa¬ 
rently of a Blue Magpie. Both of these appeared to be occu¬ 
pied by Red-legged Falcons; and there were some two dozen of 
them about. The trees were difficult to climb, and we could 
get no native to attempt them; so we contented ourselves 
with shooting a male and female, and a young male in moult. 
The old male had very large testes, the young male smaller 
ones; but evidently both were engaged in breeding. The fe¬ 
male had small eggs containing yelk. Their stomachs were 
crammed with bits of grasshoppers saturated with a pink 
juice. I must here remark that the food of this Falcon is 
by no means restricted to insects. My former experience in 
Talien Bay (see Ibis, 1861, p. 253) shows that they are no 
strangers to bird-flesh; and even in Chefoo they are reared 
and trained for hawking small birds, for which they would 
certainly be useless were they purely insectivorous. On the 
22nd August I bought from a native two yearlings of this 
species that were being so trained. Their ceres and legs were 
yellow, the former dull; their irides black. 
6. Black-eared Kite. Milvus melanotis, Temm. & Schleg. 
Fauna Japonica. 
Kites did not appear abundant about us till July. They 
were probably engaged up to then in breeding about the cliffs 
of the islands to seaward. I was told that they were always 
to be seen at this time over the lighthouse island, Kung-lmng- 
tan; and Mr. Campbell sent me word that nothing bred on 
the cliffs of his island but Hawks of this description. On a 
visit to our settlement on the 4th October he shot one of 
these so-called Hawks, and brought it to me. It was an 
adult male, measuring 25 inches in total length; wing 16^, 
falling 5 short of tail-tip; under tail-coverts also 5 \ short of 
same. Tail 12 inches, not much forked, the outermost rectrix 
1 inch longer than the centrals. Belly and breast ochreous, 
with pale streaks; its iris was brown, and the base of the bill 
greener than usual. Feet bluish white, with a very slight 
tinge of yellow. 
