288 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 



In the young birds the plumage is much browner, and the 

 feathers of the under parts margined and tipped with greyish 

 white. All my specimens were procured in the spring of 1862, 

 but many of them still retain markings of the immature 

 plumage, thereby showing that the autumnal moult is not a 

 complete transformation of the young into the mature plumage. 

 In the adult the wings are brownish black, the quills, especially 

 the secondaries, being broadly margined with bluish grey ; the 

 whig-coverts are also black, but less distinctly margined. The 

 tail is brownish black, all the feathers, except the outermost, being 

 margined exteriorly for the greater part of their length with 

 bluish grey. The feathers of the crown are long and lanceolate. 



The nearest allies of this species are the H. psaroides, Vigors, 

 from Nepal, and the H. ganeesa, Sykes, from Assam, both of 

 which are of blackish-grey plumage, and both have, like it, red 

 bills and legs. I know no similar species from China. The only 

 bird of this genus that I have seen from the hills of Southern 

 China is a green species — my H. Jioltii — very closely allied to 

 H. maclellandi, Horsf., from Bootan and Nepal. The Formosan 

 bird is at once distinguishable from its Nepalese cousins by its 

 much blacker colouring ; hence the appropriate name suggested 

 by Mr. Gould. This species is found in all the wooded parts of 

 the interior mountain-range, feeding largely on berries and the 

 small figs of the numerous species of Fici that abound, including 

 those of the Chinese Banyan {F. nitida). Insects also form part 

 of its subsistence, chiefly small Coleoptera. It rambles in small 

 parties, in winter, about the high country, and may be found at 

 all altitudes that are clothed with forest. In the spring these 

 parties break up, and the birds disperse for the purpose of nidi- 

 fication. At this season a few pairs may be found in the better- 

 wooded portions of the low country. 



On my trip into the interior in the latter half of April, I ob- 

 served one of these birds in an orchard composed of venerable 

 moss- and fern-covered trees. It perched on the highest twigs 

 of the trees, giving utterance to its song, which consisted of the 

 notes " swee-swee-swee," repeated loudly and in quick succession. 

 There was not much melody in it. When it observed me, it flew 

 to a further tree, whence finally I shot it. 



