Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 295 



Both specimens of Totanus fuscus were females. Their sto- 

 machs were also Snipe-like, but more muscular than that of the 

 foregoing. They were filled with remains of small crustaceans. 

 The ceecal appendage was prominent. 



Throughout October Phylloscopus sylvicultrix was abundant, 

 as also Lanius lucionensis. Some of the latter continue on well 

 into December. In October Egretta alba shows himself in our 

 marshes, but he has then assumed his yellow bill, and is shorn 

 of his dorsal and pectoral plumes. One was winged the other 

 day ; and I have him now in keeping, as I wish to note the ver- 

 nal change of colour in his bill, and the dawning of his nuptial 

 livery. 



As I before mentioned \antea, p. 126], I received in September, 

 from the mountains near Tamsuy, a collection of birds which had 

 been shot in August, but I was not able to attend to them till 

 November. The following are the notes I made. 



Passer russatus, T. & S., Faun. Japon. The first female 

 of this species yet procured in Formosa. A good deal like the 

 hen of P. domesticus, but smaller. Its upper parts are, however, 

 more tinted with chestnut ; and it has other peculiarities, which 

 are well described in the ' Fauna Japonica.' Its bill is light 

 brown on the upper mandible, and yellow ochre on the lower. 



Aix GALERicuLATA (Mandai'in-Duck). A pair — both in the 

 ugly plumage of the female, showing that after the breeding- 

 season the male of this Duck also assumes the female garb. 

 J, length 13-5, wing 8-9. $, length 15, wing 8-7. Instead 

 of the dull brown quills touched with grey that mark the female 

 wing, the male has the exposed parts of the quills fine dark green 

 with pearl-white margins. The rest of his plumage is lighter 

 and more glossy. His spectacle- streak is more defined, and on 

 his forehead are still a few green feathers. The bills and legs 

 of both male and female are too dry to admit of their colours 

 being distinguished. In an account of the Birds and Beasts of 

 Formosa given in the Chinese statistics of the Taiwan territory 

 [vide supra, p. 207], the Mandarin-Duck is admitted as a species 

 indigenous to the island. This I was very loth to believe, as, 

 knowing it to be partial to inland waters, I could not understand 

 how it could make the migration to this island every winter. 



