60 Mr. R. Swiuhoe on Amoy Ornithology. 



also occurs near the shoulder -joint. Rump white. Bill, casque, 

 and legs brick- red, more or less marked with brown on bill. 

 The eyes are crimson and projecting. 



The bird is unknown to the Amoy Chinese that I have ques- 

 tioned about it. It is probably to this species that the Abbe 

 David, at Peking, refers, in a letter to me, as being found to the 

 south-west of the capital. He writes " on me parle d'un gal- 

 linace tout bleu a queue courte." 



I have never heard of any of the Columbm eating insects. It 

 may therefore also be new to others to know that the other day, 

 on throwing a large live cockroach into my aviary, two Manilla 

 Doves {Calcenas a'ue?ita) attacked it at once, pulled it to pieces, 

 ate many bits of it, and probably would have eaten the whole, 

 but that other birds robbed them of the remainder. 



I received a letter from the Abbe David on the 25th June, 

 enclosing two bird-skins. The Abbe writes: — "Je profite de 

 Fobligeance de M. Conolly pour vous envoyer deux peaux 

 d'oiseaux; c'est tout ceque j'ai maintenant de disponible. Votre 

 Pomatorhinus stridulus est fort aboudant et sedentaire dans nos 

 montagnes, de meme I'autre oiseau que je vous envois et dont je 

 vous prierais de me faire savoir le nom. Ce dernier habite les 

 memes localites que le Pomatorhinus et en a les memes habitudes." 



These two birds were quite distinct from anything Chinese 

 that I had seen before, and I wrote to the worthy priest for 

 permission to describe them. M. David's permission, dated 

 Peking, 31 July, 1867, I received on the 4th Sept. The so- 

 called Pomatorhinus belongs, in my opinion, to the Timaliince. 

 At a first glance you might pronounce it to be a plain-coloured 

 Pomatorhinus ; but on second inspection you notice its feathered 

 and bristled nostrils. Hence what should it be a member of but 

 a new genus ? which I would propose to style 



Pterorhinus, gen. nov. 



Bill curved, compressd at culmen and expanding at sides, 

 narrowing very gradually to the tip, which is obtuse and without 

 notch. Nostrils thickly covered with feathers and vibrissae. 

 Wings short, rounded ; fifth, sixth, and seventh quills longest. 

 Tail of twelve feathers, moderately long, and the four outer 



