262 Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Ornithology 



Adult male. Beak greenish yellow for over | of basal portion, 

 apical portion black with vermilion tinge, bright on the culnien, 

 near the tip, and on the lower mandible. Inside of mouth orange- 

 red. Iris pale straw -yellow. Eye-rim vermilion. Legs bright 

 yellow with a greenish tinge ; claws black. 



XXV. — Letter from Mr. Swinhoe on the Ornithology of Ainoy 



and Foochoiv. 



To the Editor of ' The Ibis.' 



Sir, — A few more words on the birds of this province 

 (Fuh-keen) before I take my departure to the comparatively new 

 field at Formosa. I have submitted a specimen of the Larvivora 

 cyanea ? {marked " 7 " in ' Ibis/ 1860, p. 359) to Mr. Blyth, and 

 that gentleman pronounces it perfectly distinct from Hodgson's 

 species. I have therefore named it L. gracilis, and beg to offer a 

 diagnosis of its characters. 



Larvivora gracilis, n. sp. 



Bill, upper mandible brown, lower ochreous, with yellow 

 rictus. Legs and claws yellowish flesh-colour. Iris hazel. 

 Top of the head dark olive-green, quickly blending into the 

 cyanean blue of the upper parts. Wings and tail dark brown, 

 tinged with bluish grey, and indistinctly edged with yellowish 

 brown. Throat, breast, cheek, and region of the eye yellow 

 ochre, the feathers being palely edged with olive brown. Belly 

 and vent white. Axillae and flanks dark bluish-grey. 



Length 4^ in., wing 3, tail 1^. Bill \ in. Tarse 1 in.; hind- 

 toe ^, its claw Y-(i' 



I twice procured this species in the autumn of 1859. It was 

 perhaps a passing migrant, accidentally blown on the island. It 

 is very elegant in its contour, and appeared very tame, allowing 

 me to a])proach within a few yards of it. It kept a good deal on 

 the ground, hopping and running with a quick ambling motion 

 among the dried leaves, expanding and closing its tail with a slight 

 vertical depression, and seemed to be searching for small chry- 

 salides, and for the dipterous insects that had taken refuge 

 among the fallen leaves to escape the rude blast that caused the 



