Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 265 



trilling note, which has some resemblance to that of a Canary, but 

 yet diflfers from that of any other bird I know. All the species 

 that I have met with in a wild state have the same style of note, 

 though disagreeing in many minor respects, and by practice can 

 easily be distinguished. On a bright sunny day to witness a 

 party of these birds fly across a wooded glen is a magnificent 

 sight, the brilliancy of their tints contrasting well with the 

 sombre hue of the surrounding foliage. But it is a still more 

 beautiful sight to watch a group of these pretty creatures, male 

 and female, examining an evergreen tree for insects. They frisk 

 and flutter about the leaves, throwing themselves into all sorts 

 of positions, and assuming the most difficult attitudes, as if 

 delighting, in the ordinary business of feeding, to show to the 

 greatest advantage those charms with which nature has so amply 

 endowed them. In summer they retire into the depths of the 

 highest forests, whither it was impossible for me to follow them. 



27. Graucalus rex-pineti, n. sp. 



6 . Length 11 in.; wing 7^; tail 5. 

 ?. „ 11 in.; „ 7; „ 5. 



This is another inhabitant of the interior forest-covered moun- 

 tains, a pair of which were brought to me by my hunters. It 

 is called by the Chinese the Sam-ong, or Pine King, and is noted 

 for its loud unmusical notes. It comes but rarely from its 

 wooded haunts to the cleared ranges in the hands of the colonists, 

 and I have thus had no opportunity of watching its habits. I 

 have never met with any species of this genus in China, and, 

 from the limited areas inhabited by all the insular species that 

 I am acquainted with, I should be disposed to decide on the 

 Formosan representative being peculiar, though all the forms of 

 the Campephaga group run so close in the immature plumage, 

 that it is often difficult to determine them without a careful 

 comparison of adults. In our case, however, the difficulty 

 vanishes, as both the birds procured are adults, the one a male, 

 the other a female. 



The bill and feet of the male are black ; soles light dingy, with 

 ochreous tints. The bill and feet of the female are rather lighter. 

 In the male, the lores, space round the eyes, cheeks, and chin 



