122 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



The heat, duty, and the damp state of the weather, all unite 

 to keep me from wandering far into the country; but I have 

 native assistants at work. 



A man I sent lately to the mountains succeeded in procuring 

 me a Green Dove. Much to my delight, it was the long- 

 wished-for male. I had founded the species on a single female 

 specimen procured at Taiwanfoo in 1861, where I had only seen 

 one other example (Ibis, 1863, p. 896). It is a mountain 

 species, coming down, as the natives of the interior report, in 

 summer to feed on the berries of a particular tree. This male 

 confirms my view as to the specific value of the bird, though it 

 is closely allied to Sphenocercus sieboldi (Temm.). I will now 

 describe my specimen : — 



Sphenocercus formosa, 6 . Length about 13*75 inches ; wing 

 7*25 ; tail 5*75, much wedged, the outermost feathers being 

 1'75 in. shorter than the middle ones. Head and neck fine 

 grass-green, greenish-yellow on the throat and breast, the base 

 of each feather being leaden-white. Belly and under tail- 

 coverts pale primrose-yellow. Axillaries and under tail-coverts 

 fine lead-colour. Flanks and vent broadly striped and banded 

 with leaden-green, which colour also marks the bases of the under 

 tail-coverts and their stems. Upper plumage dull green, back 

 and rump washed with lead-colour. On the shoulders a large 

 patch of dull maroon or madder. The remaining wing-coverts 

 and tertiaries green, more or less marked on their concealed parts 

 with leaden-black. Quills black, faintly edged with green ; a 

 few of the secondaries and the bordering coverts more broadly 

 edged with primrose and green. The two middle rectrices 

 pointed and green above, the next pair with a faint black bar, 

 which becomes larger on each successive pair as the outermost 

 is approached, in which the green is scarcely perceptible. Be- 

 neath, the rectrices are black, with ashy-grey tips. Bill and 

 legs as in the female. 



The same man also brought me a pair of young Tiger-Bitterns 

 {Gorsachius goisagi) alive. I tried to keep them, offering them 

 flesh and soaked bread, on which food the Chinaman said he 

 had kept them for several days. They must, however, have 

 been half-starved when they arrived ; for they soon died. It is 



