282 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Oi-nithology. 



have seen and procured it from Sawo, on the eastern coast; 

 Kelung, north ; Tamsuy, N.W.; Taiwanfoo and Apes' Hill, S.W. 

 It feeds on almost every creeping thing of the great insect- 

 family, and occasionally on birds of the Prinia group. I have 

 frequently taken entire birds'- eggs out of its stomach. It searches 

 throughout the bushes more diligently than any schoolboy for 

 the nests of small birds, and ruthlessly sucks the eggs and 

 devours the young. In this character, as well as in some others, 

 it approaches the Jays; but I think its affinities are more de- 

 cidedly Turdine. 



42. Garrulax ruficeps, Gould, P. Z. S. 1862, p. 281. 



This species frequents the central wooded range of mountains, 

 and very rarely descends to the lower hills that flank the Chi- 

 nese territory. I never met with it alive, and my hunters only 

 succeeded in procuring one pair. It differs entirely from any of 

 the Eastern-Asiatic forms of Garrulax, but, strange enough, has 

 characters largely in common with a species from Bootan and 

 Mussoorie (India), the G. albogularis, Gould. 



Length lOiin. ; wing 5; tail 5. Bill black. Loral space 

 round eye and chin black. Crown of head bright rufous ; cheek 

 light-rufous olive; upper parts brownish olive. Wings hair- 

 brown, broadly margined with olive, the tertiaries being almost 

 entirely of that colour. The 6th quill-feather the longest in the 

 wing ; the 5th and 7th being equal, and slightly shorter than 

 the 6th. Tail rich olive-brown, greyer on the two central fea- 

 thers, which are unspotted ; the next one has a whitish mark at 

 the tip ; the 3rd a broad white mark, which increases in size, 

 until, on the lateral feathers, it is 1^ in. deep. Tail graduated, 

 the outer feather being 1-^ in. shorter than the central ones. 

 Throat and lower neck pure white ; the centre of the belly not 

 quite such pure white. Sides of the breast of the same colour 

 as the back. Flanks, axillaries, and tibiae brownish ochre or 

 buff; vent pale buff. Under part of shafts of quills and tail- 

 feathers whitish, and under edges of inner quills rufesccnt. In 

 the pair I have, there is scarce any difference as to size or colour. 

 Tarsi 1*85 in. long. 



In G. albogularis the entire belly and flanks arc of a decided 



