300 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 



thrust through the bars he would fly at it with great fury, peck- 

 ing and biting very hard, and charging again and again at it, 

 each time with redoubled onslaught. He was always ready for 

 a fight, and seemed by his manner to challenge it. He made 

 no difference between stranger and acquaintance ; but the pre- 

 sence of several people cowed him, and he became shy. He was 

 altogether the most pugnacious little bird I have ever seen, and 

 in the v.ay he went about his battles very similar in style to 

 Leucodiophron chinense and L. taivanum. Before I had time 

 to try him with insects, or, indeed, to learn much further about 

 him, to my great annoyance I found him also cold and stiff at 

 the bottom of the cage. The Chinese must have a secret for 

 keeping them alive which I have not yet succeeded in possess- 

 ing. In plumage and other respects the male and female seem 

 in every way similar. I should like to introduce the species as 



SuTHORA BULOMACHUs*, sp. nov. (Plate IX.) 



Supra fusco-olivacea ; corona tectricibusque partim alarum;, 

 cum remigum marginibus, rufis ; cauda alisque brunneis ; 

 rectricibus transversim vix striatis, earum externis pogoniis 

 olivaceis : subtus albida ; lateribus, tibiis crissoque oliva- 

 ceis ; axillaribus lacteis ; pectore mentoque roseo suffusis 

 et leviter fusco striatis; rostro brevi (fere Pyrrhulaceo) 

 pedibusque pallide plumbeis. 



Long. 5*3, alse 2, caudse 2*4 poll. 



Bill light brownish-leaden, with a tinge of pale purple horn- 

 colour on tip and edges. Irides rich brown. Legs and claws 

 bright purplish leaden-brown, with dingy yellowish soles; nails 

 pale horn-colour, purplish along their ridges. Head brick- 

 red. Upper parts brownish-olive. Tail hair-brown, indistinctly 

 barred on the rectrices, and edged exteriorly with olive-brown. 

 Remiges a deeper hair-brown, broadly margined with brick-red, 

 so as to make the wing look red for its greater part when closed. 

 Wing-coverts tinged with reddish. Axilla pale cream-colour ; 

 inner edge and most of quills nearly white, showing the under- 

 wing for the most part white. Bi-east and under neck washed 

 with pale silvery rose-colour, with a few light streaks and freckles. 

 Underparts dingy cream-colour ; flanks, thighs, and vent oli- 

 vaceous. 



* ^ovKofiaxos, qui cupit pugnare. 



