314 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 



identified by him (page 186) with Pallas's Motacilla luteola. 

 MiddendorflF's single specimen was a male, shot on the 8th of 

 June, and we may therefore suppose it to be in summer plu- 

 mage. By our bird, which was procured in winter, we see that 

 there is no difference in the plumage of that season. If, then, 

 Middendorff's specimen was truly a male, the species cannot be 

 identified with M. mugimaki of the 'Fauna Japonica,' which 

 has the back black and more white on the wing. Neither is it 

 the Motacilla luteola of Pallas; for in the ' Zoographia Rosso-Asia- 

 tica^ (i. p. 470) this species is described "supra cinerea (my bird 

 is olive-green on the upper parts), subtus albida, gula colloque 

 ferrugineis, rectricibus lateralibus medio transversim albis." 

 Pallas never saw the bird, but described it from Messerschmid's 

 notes, and this latter speaks of the species as " chryso-bronchites 

 albicilla." After a careful perusal of the whole of Pallas's article 

 on this subject, I feel convinced he is speaking of the male of 

 Erythrosterna parva (L.), which is the western form of-B. leucura 

 (Gmelin), and is distinguished from it by the greater extent of 

 orange on the throat and breast. The latter appears to be the 

 Chinese race, but both are said to have occurred in India. Pallas's 

 Motacilla albicilla (Z. R.-A. i. p. 463) is the winter plumage 

 of one of the two allied forms ; but of which, it is difficult to de- 

 termine. I cannot tell how in the winter-garb the two are to 

 be differentiated. The latest name for our species would seem 

 to be Muscicapa erythaca, Blyth. Mr. Blyth tells me that he 

 founded this species on a single specimen procured at Penang. 

 I procured a single specimen some years ago at Amoy, which I 

 described as M. kylocharis (Ibis, 1863, p. 305). This had no 

 white at the base of the rectrices. I dissected it, and considered 

 it a male at the time. Von Schrenk (Reise u. Forsch, Araurl. i. 

 p. 3, tab. xiii. fig. 1) figures a young bird having the white in 

 question. Mine may have been a variety, or a female. One 

 with the white was shot by Mr. Gustav Schlegel at Amoy. I do 

 not know where Mr. Blyth published his description of the 

 Penang bird, but I should not be surprised if it proved to be 

 distinct, and that our bird were without a name. 



Pallas's Muscicapa grisola, var. /S, seems identical with M. 



