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Show 1870.] MR. R. SWINHOE ON CHINESE ZOOLOGY. 427 behind the tooth. The left tooth measures 6 inches in length, 3§ inches in width, and is If inch thick. The space between the teeth measures 7\ inches. The limbs are very imperfect; all the smaller bones are missing ; and there is only a part of one scapula. I did not find the pelvic bones. This animal was captured about a year ago, near Lord Howe's Island. 8. Zoological Notes of a Journey from Canton to Peking and Kalgan. By R. S W I N H O E , F.Z.S. On my return from Hainan in April 1868 I visited Canton. In the market there three species of White Herons (H. alba, H. garzetta, and II. intermedia) were to be seen, with eyelids stitched together, walking about the counters of the bird shops-the bills of tbe first and last in different stages of black and yellow, changing from the winter to the summer colour-all with the nuptial plumes fully developed. Parrakeets with red cheeks (Palceornis longicauda!) were in abundance. The dealers told me that they were brought from the western portion of the province, down the west river. Polyphasia tenuirostris was often heard whistling in the neighbourhood. It has a quick undulatory flight as it flits from tree to tree, and has two other series of notes besides its ordinary call. W e pulled down the river and went on board a Customs' revenue cruizer to call on a Mr. S. Bligh, formerly a naturalist in Norfolk, who was serving on board. He had a tolerable collection of neatly prepared skins made on the Canton river. He had fine specimens of both Herodias alba and H. intermedia; and drew m y attention to the fact that the latter lacked the pink garters which the former carries on the top of its bare tibiee. He had also a large Goose with flesh-coloured bill and white dertrum and yellowish flesh-coloured legs ; tail broadly margined with white, and belly blotted with black ; apparently a race oi Anser ferus. He had besides several of Totanus fuscus, L., which he assured me was very common during winter on the Pearl River. The best thing I got from him was a solitary specimen of a new species of Porzana, which I have lately described in the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History' (March 1870, p. 173) as Porzana mandarina. He showed me a Calamoherpe orientalis (T. & S.), which he said was just beginning to arrive. There were certainly plenty of Reed-warblers about then ; for the river-banks resounded with their notes. Mr. Bligh believed that both Anas circia, L., and Anas zonorhyncha, mihi, breed in the neighbourhood of Canton. The Commissioner of Customs at Canton had a nice * aviary, with several birds of interest in it. Of domestic things, the most curious was a full-grown Duck (cross between a Muscovy and the common Chinese or Penguin Duck) of a piebald colour, with four legs. The foremost pair were normal; the hind pair hung obliquely |
