292 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 



in our examples. I have not been able to procure specimens 

 from Eastern Europe to ascertain whether this variation indicates 

 the eastern race. We never met with the Redwing, and only 

 once or twice with the Fieldfare {Turdus pilaris) in winter. I 

 have a specimen shot in February close to Jerusalem. Turdus 

 musicus often occurred in winter in the higher grounds ; and I 

 occasionally noticed it in the wooded parts of northern Galilee 

 in spring, but we did not find its nest. Turdus merula, on the 

 contrary, was scattered in every part of the country through- 

 out the year, remaining to breed even in the sultry Ghor. It 

 was nowhere abundant, and was one of the most retiring and shy 

 of the inhabitants of the thickets. It is precisely identical with 

 our Blackbird. We never found the Mistletoe-Thrush, though 

 it must certainly exist in the Lebanon, and probably in Gilead, 

 since it remains in the Tunisian Atlas and in Asia Minor through 

 the year. 



The Bulbul of Palestine {Ixus xanthopygius, H. & Ehr.) I 

 have already described (Ibis, 1865, p. 81), as well as the only 

 representative of the Timaliine group, Crateropus chalybeius, Bp. 

 I may add to my description of the former that the specimens 

 from the Jordan valley are at all seasons of the year much 

 lighter in colour than those from the upper country, and that 

 this distinction holds good without exception in a series of over 

 thirty specimens. 



XXV. — Ornithological Notes from Formosa. By Robert 

 Swinhoe, Her Majesty's Consul at Taiwan, F.Z.S., &c. 



(Plate IX.) 



The last Number of the expired series of ' The Ibis ' having at 

 length reached me, I have given it my attention. The " Notes on 

 the Birds of Siam," by Sir Robert Schomburgk, deserve a few 

 comments. Under the head of Alcedo bengalensis, the remark- 

 able " white-spotted species of the Halcyon family " is, without 

 doubt, Ceryle rudis, of wide distribution. I would suggest that 

 Sir Robert's "Turtur suratensis" should be rather T. tigrinus of 

 Temminck, represented in China by T. chinensis. 



The observations on the habits of Stmmopastor nigricollis I 



