362 Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Ornithology 



with strong claw. Bill, along culmen, '7 in, ; from gape to tip, 

 I'O in., somewhat broad at the base. 



The bill of this bird is proportionately stronger than in the 

 typical K. macroura ; but in its breadth at the base and in the 

 form of its tail, which is, however, comparatively shorter, it is 

 typical of the subgenus. It is a pity, in my opinion, to unite this 

 natural subgenus to the true Copsychi. The Kittacinclce are 

 forest-birds, retiring from the haunts of men ; they are distin- 

 guished by their pale flesh-coloured legs and more or less deve- 

 loped tails, and show in their two last characters a tendency 

 towards the Mountain- Wagtails (Henicuri). They are all sweet 

 songsters. The Copsychi, on the other hand, have black legs, 

 are familiar house- and open-country-frequenting birds, and 

 possess but a few notes, which are loud, but not over-melodious. 



The second novelty was brought 7th March. It is a Saxicoline 

 form, with the plumage of the Niltava Flycatchers. Jerdon (Birds 

 of India) places the group close to that magnificent fellow, 

 Graridala coelicolor. The bird of the Formosan Mountains I have 

 named 



Myiomela montium, sp. nov. Cyanea : fronte humerisque cjeru- 

 leis; macula colli utrinque alba, sub plumis celata : lateribus 

 cum subcaudalium marginibus albicantibus : alis fusco- 

 nigris, cinerascenti-cseruleo marginatis : cauda nigra, obli- 

 que albo fasciata : rostro pedibusque nigris. Long, tota 

 6*5 poll. ; alse 3*6 ; caudse 2*7 ; tarsi 1*15. 

 The white spot on each side of the lower neck is only conspi- 

 cuous when the feathers are disarranged ; it is formed by the 

 basal half of the feathers being pure white. The two central 

 feathers of the tail are entirely black ; the rest, with por- 

 tions of their outer webs and shafts, pure white, the outermost 

 having scarcely any ; the second, to the extent of an inch, increas- 

 ing inwardly to the fifth, which is white for about two inches. 

 The feathers bulge, and are somewhat pectinated on the edges 

 of their white portions. The tail is composed of twelve mo- 

 derate feathers, the two middle ones being nearly double the 

 breadth of the others ; the rectrices are slightly graduated, and 

 end in angular mucronate tips. Claws pale, sharp, laterally 

 cultrate, and rather delicate. Fifth quill slightly longer than 



