380 Mr. R. Swinlioe on Furmosan Ornithology. 



musical trill-uote. It generally prefers selecting a building-site 

 in the neighbourhood of human dwellings, placing its Wren- 

 like nest in some bush five or six feet from the ground, often 

 in quite exposed places; but being such a small, delicate bird, 

 and so gentle and familiar in its habits, it is protected by the 

 Chinese, and looked upon as the harbinger of good. It is known 

 in Amoy as the 0-/)<?-/« ; in Formosa, as the Aw-tsejv-pe- la. In 

 its disproportionately large and not very elegant nest it stldoni 

 lays more than three eggs, quite white when blown, but when 

 fresh, of a pale ochreous pink. The males and females are similar 

 in plumage; the young are of a light olive-brown, whitish on 

 the under parts, but always having the white rump-band. 



This species has been semidomesticated in Japan, where it 

 breeds, like the Canary, in confinement, and pi'oduces every 

 variety of albinism and melanism. There are several living 

 examples of these varieties at present in the gardens of the 

 Zoological Society of London. 



M. molucca (L.) and M. striata (L.) are closely allied to this 

 species, but distinct. 



93. MuNiA TOPELA, u. sp. Chinese, Topeld. 



M. Malacca of my Amoy and Canton Lists, Ibis, 1860, p. 01. 

 & 1861, p. 45. 



The two species to which this bird is most nearly allied are 

 the M. punctularia [Fringilla nisoria, Temm.) of Malacca, and 

 the M. undulata of India. The former is distinguished from 

 the latter by the whitish grey on the rump, upper tail-coverts, 

 and tail, which is represented by glistening fulvous in the 

 other species. In ours the upper tail-coverts are greenish yel- 

 low, and the tail washed with yellowish green. The upper 

 parts are a dull brown, instead of reddish chocolate, most of the 

 feathers having whitish shafts, and being obscurely barred with 

 a deeper shade of brown ; the rump-feathers margined with 

 yellowish white. Throat deep chocolate-brown, not reddish. 

 Horseshoe-shaped striae on the breast light chocolate, those on 

 the flanks dull blackish. Centre of belly white ; vent and tibiae 

 the same, mottled with brown. Axillai-ics and undervvings 

 tinted with ochreous. The two central tail-feathers in adults 



