Mr. R. Svviulioe on Formosan Ornithology. 405 



months in confinement, are still shy birds, and skulk in holes 

 the greater part of the day. They frequently utter a plaintive 

 note " co-co-co-coo," the last a low wail, almost impossible to 

 syllable. One fine skin of a hen I have got has a snow-white 

 patch on the crown and a few white feathers on the side of the 

 jaws. In other respects it is normal. The second-year plumage 

 of the young cock is very peculiar. The bare cheek- skin is 

 well developed into comb and wattles, but the spurs are not full- 

 grown. The tail, in shape and size, is a good deal similar to 

 that of the hen bird. The underparts are dull black, with very 

 little of the purplish gloss. The quills are deep hair-brown ; and 

 the tail is black, with very slight chestnut mottling. The wing- 

 coverts, the lower part of the back and rump, and the ample 

 margin of the secondaries are transversely barred with narrow 

 alternate wavy lines of deep chestnut-brown and black. A few 

 of the scapulars and lesser wing-coverts have their middle buff. 

 The head and neck are purplish-black, and the crown white. 

 The upper back is purplish-black, many of the feathers being 

 broadly centred with white, and having broad maroon-chestnut 

 margins. The back-mantle is deep chestnut. At a younger stage 

 the crown also is black. The crown seems to be the first part 

 to develope the white feathers of maturity. The other Euplo- 

 cami may be found to have corresponding intermediate forms of 

 the male. 



The single egg of Euplocamus swinhoii that I possess is well 

 ovate, being somewhat pointed at one end, 2'4 inches long by 

 1*7 inch at greatest breadth. It is of a buff-cream colour, 

 very minutely dotted with white. 



I have lately received a second specimen of Hydrophasianus 

 chirurgus from Takow. This has the axillaries a pure unmottled 

 white, and seems to be every whit the same as specimens from 

 the Himalaya. 



A friend who visited the interior of Formosa from Takow 

 reports having flushed from thick covert on a mountain-side a 

 pair of Partridge-like birds, a good deal larger than either of the 

 two species already known. I could learn nothing about it from 

 the natives. Another friend declares that one of his party shot 

 a Partridge at Kelung (North Formosa) the size of Bamhusicola, 



N. &. VOL. II. 2 E 



