Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 275 



the town, about whicli they are constantly to be seen chasing 

 one another, and singing their agreeable notes. 



34. Oreocincla hancii, n. sp. 



I have two Thrushes of this form, one shot at Amoy, and 

 the other in North Formosa. They are both males, and both 

 procured in March, when the adult plumage ought to have been 

 acquired. They are of about the same size, and differ very tri- 

 flingly, if at all, in their bills and legs. The Chinese bird has 

 a white throat, and is marked with rich olive and ochre; the 

 Formosan has a spotted throat, and has scarcely any of the rich 

 ochreous tinge. Birds of the same species often vary in colour ; 

 and these differences, therefore, are hardly worth noticing, except 

 in connexion with the measurements of the wings and tail. The 

 Formosan has the 2nd quill nearly half shorter than the 3rd, 

 whereas the Chinese has it not quite ^-^ shorter, and the v/hole 

 wing of the former is j^y longer than that of the latter. The 

 tail, too, of the former is longer and somewhat more graduated. 

 All these, however, may be only individual peculiarities. In the 

 true Thrushes, size and proportions are very various, and pro- 

 bably also in the Oreocincloe. And as to variety in colour, we 

 need not go to the allied Tm^di ; compare only the young Oreo- 

 cincla with the adult bird. I have, nevertheless, thought it right 

 to consider the Formosan provisionally as a distinct species. The 

 Chinese bird I believe to be the true 0. aurea {Turdus ivhitei). 



Length 11^ in.; wing Gy^^ ; tail 4^, of 14 feathers. Upper 

 mandible and apical third of lower blackish brown, the rest of 

 lower and edge of upper being light brownish flesh-yellow. Legs 

 light flesh-ochre, deeper and browner on the toes. Claws brown, 

 with pale edges. This specimen was brought to me on the 

 20th March, by my hunters, from the mountain forests of the 

 interior. I never met with it alive in Formosa. The Chinese 

 bird I have only seen twice, both times in our garden at Amoy, 

 which they visited two years running, for the sake of the banyan- 

 figs, which were then ripe. The only note I heard them utter 

 was a long-drawn "seep," like that of our other Thrushes *. 



* I have named the Formosan Oreocincla after my finend Dr. Hance, 

 Her Majesty's Vice-Consul at Whampoa, so justly celebrated for his re- 

 searches in Chinese Botany. — R. S. 



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