Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 279 



pale black. The female is similar to the male, but rather 

 smaller. 



M. horsfieldii is at once distinguishable from the Formosan 

 bird by its very bright blue frontal band, by its brighter blue 

 shoulder-mark, by its head and upper back being quite black, 

 by its having no white on the basal part of any of the feathers, 

 by its wing being ^ inch shorter and rounder, and by its tarse 

 being about -,% shorter. The basal whiteness of the ventral and 

 flank feathers occurs in the small Javan species, M. cyaneus, as 

 also in the three typical Myiophoni. 



The Formosan Cavern-bird haunts the dark wooded ravines 

 in the interior mountains, seldom descending below the level of 

 2000 feet. Like the Chinese species, its favourite position is 

 on a large boulder of rock on the side of some torrent, whereon 

 it stands, expanding and shutting its tail like a fan, and occa- 

 sionally throwing it slightly up. It is easily startled, running, 

 rather than hopping, over the surface of the rock, and flying ofi" 

 with a loud screaming note. It possesses a short, somewhat 

 pleasant song. In its manners and habits it seems to connect 

 the Thrushes and Petrocinclce with the Pitta, which also love 

 the neighbourhood of mountain streams. The shape of its ear 

 is most peculiar, and almost exactly similar to that of the Heni- 

 curi, which are also cascade-loving birds. The birds dissected 

 contained usually remains of Coleoptera and their larvae. 



41. Garrulax taivanus. 



Garrulax taiwanus, Swinhoe, Journal of As. Soc. of Shang- 

 hai, No. 2. p. 228. 



The Hwa-mei (Flowered-Eyebrow) or Song-Thrush of the 

 Chinese is so universally met with as a cage-bird in China, that 

 every European possessed of ordinary observation that has 

 visited the Celestial realm must be acquainted with it ; yet sad 

 confusion exists in its nomenclature. There is a species from 

 Tenasserim with a white cheek, which has frequently been mis- 

 taken for our bird. An Indian Malacocercus has also been 

 confounded with the Chinaman, — for a genuine Chinaman I 

 take him to be, confined in distribution to the hilly country of 

 Southern China. We have not to run far for a name for the 



