40 Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Ornithology 



sont blanchatres, mais elles passent au noira,tre vers leiir base, 

 Toutes les autres parties de I'oiseau sont d'un noir de velours 

 profond k reflets bleuatres, et passant au noir-violet sur le dos 

 et les ailes" — whereas the back of our bird is of a burnished 

 pink- purple. 



Iris dark blackish brown. Eye-skin and bill fine cobalt-blue, 

 the latter with black tip. Legs violet-blue, with blackish claws. 

 Gizzard roundish and somewhat flattened, | in, in diameter, with 

 a fixed rugose cuticle ; containing remains of diptera and coleo- 

 ptera. Intestine 6| in. in length ; right csecum | in. from anus, 

 the left yj) higher, both about ~ in. long and adnate, of an oval 

 shape. 



It is a grand sight to see this bird sitting upright on a 

 branch, with its two tail-streamers hanging down, and quivering 

 with the slightest breeze ; but to see it spring on wing, and 

 mark the whirling motion of the two long feathers, now coming 

 together, now separating widely, and spinning in different direc- 

 tions as the bird skirmishes in the air, is truly a magnificent 

 sight. They seldom dart out far on the wing, but keep a good 

 deal within the limits of a large tree's branches. I have watched 

 a pair of females engaged in the capture of insects. They stood 

 very upright on the branch, with the tail almost horizontal, and 

 leaping a little way into the air, would catch the fly and skip 

 with it to another branch, seldom returning to the one they 

 started from. 



The yearling has the bill and legs brownish, the blue of the 

 eye-skin being more or less sullied. I am told that white 

 varieties occur near Canton. 



59. Hemichelidon latirostris (Raffles)*. 

 Very common. 



60. Hemichelidon perruginea, Hodgson t- 



I only saw this once. I enclose the specimen for Mr. Sclater's 

 examination. 



* This seems to be Musicapa cinereo-alba (Temm.) of the ' Fauna Ja- 

 ponica.' — P. L, S. 



t Agrees well with Indian examples of this bird in Mr. Gould's col- 

 lection. — P. L. S. 



