Soiith Formosa and its Birds. 307 



On Nov. 3rd Mr. Bain and I started forBaksa. We had a 

 delightfnl ride along the fine wide military road which leads 

 up to the city suimrbs. On reaching the streets we took to our 

 chairs. I noticed a few cage-birds in the shops — Trochalo- 

 pteron taivanum, Larks, and Crested Mynahs. One or two 

 wretched Buff-backed Herons {Bubulcus coromandus), with 

 their white winter plumage dyed pink, were seen in one dirtv 

 Lane. It is not an uncommon sight in some Chinese towns 

 — Amoy, for instance — to meet with these birds, perfectly 

 unconcerned, standing or wandering in some filthy alley. 



Leaving the city Taiwanfoo, we travelled through some 

 charming country. The road, sometimes a narrow lane, but 

 often a wide track bordered by hedges of pandanus and 

 other southern plants, led through fields of magnificent 

 sugar-cane from ten to twelve feet high. Now and then we 

 came upon a picturesque village lost in a grove of bamboos, 

 its houses standing in yards or gardens hidden from the wide 

 sandy tracks by screens of tall prickly bamboo. Fine old 

 mango-trees occasionally spread their branches over the 

 way, their stalwart trunks and bold, though scanty, foliage 

 making a pleasing variety in the landscape. As we pro- 

 gressed further inland water flowed over the road, which 

 became really a wide shallow Avatercourse, contained within 

 high banks, usually covered with luxuriant vegetation. 

 There were a good many birds about the villages — Myiagra 

 azurea, Truchalopteron taivanum, Ixus sinensis, Zosterops 

 simplex, &c., but 1 did not notice any Mynahs, which seem 

 to be very scarce in South Formosa. 



We halted for a short time towards 11 a.m. at a pretty 

 little village called Kuhsia. The next place we came to was 

 Kwong-ti-bio, a populous market town, within a mile or so 

 of the hills. We halted here for tiffin, taking shelter in a 

 neighbouring temple. After the usual delay, inevitable 

 when one has a large party of carriers, we started oft' again 

 and went on through rice-fields until we reached the first hills 

 — low mounds with scanty vegetation, the most conspicuous 

 shrub upon them being the guava. Beyond these was a shal- 

 low river, flowing under some low sandstone cliffs, the banks of 



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