251 ) 



China, except in size : they are smaller, the bill being, as a rule, smaller and 

 slenderer, and the wing invariably shorter, generally from lU to 18 mm. 



Type: <? ad. Kiungchau, 14. ii. 19U2. 



A number of eggs were found in holes of trees from three to twenty feet 

 above the ground. The clutches consisted of three and four eggs which are glossy 

 greenish blue. 



273. Gracula iiitermedius hainanus (Swinh.). 



.' Eidabes Iiiiinrinits Swinhoe, IhU 1870. p. 352 (Uainan). 

 Mtihiatim iiitenneilius Grant, P. Z. S. 1900. p. 464. 



1 ? Hoihow, April 1902 (No. 6.5). 



12 (J ? ML Wuchi, November 1905 (No. 65). 



A comparison of our beautiful series of Gracida from Hainan shows that they 

 are very closely allied to <r. iitU'.nwdtin from Tenasserim and Burma (.\ssam), 

 only the bill is generally, but not always, smaller, the wings mostly, but not 

 constantly, shorter, and as a rule the hippets on the occiput are somewliat narrower ; 

 moreover, the narrow bare line behind the eye ends more or less broadly, wliile 

 it is pointed on the top end in intermcdinx. This last character, however, is a 

 rather difficult one to go by, because it is much influenced by preparation : if 

 the sides of the head are puffed out and filled with cotton-wool, the narrow bare 

 sjiace becomes broader, and it shrinks with the shrinking of the sides of the head. 

 Also the width of the lappets is ratlier difficult to judge from, because the skins 

 are not all equally treated. Therefore I am at present inclined to separate the 

 Hainan form ; but am not quite certain if it can be done satisfactorily. 



i^winhoe separated both the South Chinese form and that from Hainan. The 

 former he described because it was " smaller than E. intermedins of Tenasserim, 

 had a smaller bill, and very narrow nuchal Hesh-lappets," and because "the 

 naked skin below the eye was about 07 in. broad and in shape nearly square." 

 The Hainan bird, he says, had the subocular fleshy skin narrow, 0'25 in., and 

 " lengthened downwards, not square." This is difficult to understand, and the 

 description of sinensis agrees with our Hainan birds, while that of hainanus does 

 not seem to fit so well. The probability is, that the Hainan and South China 

 birds are the same, and form a barely separable form, closely allied to, but not 

 quite identical with, G. intermedins from Tenasserim. The type of hainanus was 

 a live bird in a cage which died and was thrown away, and it seems that the 

 sinensis were all bought alive in shops by Swinhoe, who did not shoot them himself, 



274. Temniirus temnura nigra (Styan). (? Tcmnurus temnura). 



(Plate V.) 



Cri/psirhiiio nigra Styan, Bull. B. 0. C. vol. i. p. vi. (1892 — Hainan). 



Tcmnurus schmnrheri Styan, Ibis 1893. p. 426 (descript. nulla). 



Temniirus nuslaleli Hartlaub, Abh. Nat. Ver. Bremen, 1898, Bd. .xvi. pt. 2. p. 249 (1899— Hainan). 



Tcmnurus niger Grant, P. Z. S. 1900. p. 464. 



5 (J<J, 1 ? Mt. Wuchi, March, April, May 1903 (No. 190). 



2 .?<?, 1 ? Mt. Wuchi, November 1905 (No. 19U). 



6 (J ? Cheteriang, January 1904 (No. 190). 



The Hainan race of Temnurus has, like its continental representative, been 



