Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 205 



thence southward, Kia-ne Hien and ChanghwaHien respectively. 

 The Taifang Ting presides over the sea-board of Taiwan Hien 

 and Fungshan Hien ; the Loo-keang Ting over that of the two 

 other counties. Further north we have the Tamsuy Ting, com- 

 prising the north coast, from lat. 24° 33' to the N.E. corner. The 

 Komalau Ting includes all the acquired territory on the east coast 

 as far down as Sawo ; and the Panghoo Ting extends over the 

 group of islands called the Pescadores, off the west coast. From 

 July to the middle of November I collected in the counties of 

 Taiwan Hien and Fungshan Hien, both of which, for the most 

 part, consist of one vast alluvial plain, interspersed with a few 

 solitary hills, not exceeding 2000 feet. There are high moun- 

 tains in the background, but these I did not visit. This part 

 of the country is highly cultivated with rice, sugar-canes, &c., 

 interspersed with fine groves of bamboos and other trees. In- 

 land, water is abundantly supplied by ponds and numerous small 

 rivers, which, however, choke themselves before debouching into 

 the sea, and are useless for navigation. From December to the 

 9th May I passed in the Tamsuy Ting, on the north-east coast. 

 There we had a moderately fine river, winding down from a long 

 chain of high mountains, which are said to run nearly north 

 and south, and to divide Formosa into a flat low country on the 

 west and a rocky mountainous country on the east. The 

 neighbourhood of Tamsuy abounds in small valley-plains, w'cll 

 watered and cultivated, but for the most part in hills and undu- 

 lations, all, however, cleared of their pristine verdure, and now 

 covered with coarse grass, with an occasional hill-side patch of 

 wood. The hills in the immediate vicinity do not exceed 3000 

 feet; but the river gives communication to the lofty forest- 

 covered range of mountains, which are plainly visible on clear 

 days, the furthermost covered with snow as late as April. The 

 highest mountain in Formosa has been set down as 12,000 feet. 

 It is to this mountain-range, which I visited, and over which 

 my hunters constantly rambled, that I owe most of my novelties. 

 As far south as lat. 24° 30' the country on the west coast par- 

 takes of a similar character to that prevailing at Tamsuy. Below 

 this the ground is less undulatory and more flat until you reach 

 lat. 22° 25', when the hills again approach the sea. The north 



