88 ON A COLLECTION OF BIRDS 



the nearly adult Ardea goisagi from Formosa : » Crown and 

 occiput without crest , each feather marked along the mid- 

 dle with black. Only the first quill-feather tipped with 

 white . . . Bill from forehead 1.62 inch . , . Large testes on 

 dissection. The whole plumage about three parts advanced 

 to maturity." This description suits so perfectly well the 

 true Goisagi from Japan , that no further doubt can exist 

 about the occurrence of this species in Formosa. 



A few months afterwards (Ibis 1866, pp. 122, 123) 

 Swinhoe again sent some notes concerning this matter, i. 

 e. about two young nearly full-grown birds from Formosa , 

 which he considered also to belong to G. goisagi. The des- 

 cription of these specimens however states clearly their be- 

 longing to G. melanolophus : » . . . . Coronal and occipital 

 feathers fine black, with white spots and streaks... Quills 

 black, broadly tipped with white, which is mottled more 

 or less with brown. . ." The Island Formosa would thus 

 contain both G. melanolophus and G. goisagi, and the first 

 would be found breeding there, as Swinhoe states that 

 both nearly full-grown nestliags »were taken, with their 

 mother, from a tree at the foot of the inland mountains", 

 adding that unfortunately the parent did not reach him. 



In the Ibis of the same year (p. 403), and again in P. 

 Z. S. 1871, p. 413, Swinhoe says that G. melanolophus 

 and goisagi are identical, the black-crested birds represent- 

 ing the summer-dress . the entirely red-headed ones the win- 

 ter-dress , or in other words , that the bird would wear the 

 black crown and crest only in summer and drop it in the 

 winter, so as to leave the head and occiput entirely red. 



But, as Tweeddale did already observe (Trans. Z. S. IX. 

 p. 239) , this view cannot be adopted , as all specimens 

 hitherto known from the Continent and the Archipelago — 

 and most of them have been collected in winter — wore 

 the black crest either plain (adult) or intermixed with 

 white spots (immature). 



Blyth (Ibis 1867, pp. 173, 309) adhere to the opinion 

 of Swinhoe as to the seasonal change of plumage , though 



Notes from the Leyden Museum, "Vol. IX. 



