636 Mr. J. D. D. La Touclie on the [Ibis, 



closely to that species. Thus the Stripcd-iieaded Jay of 

 Eur()i)c will l)c connected thi-ouji;h these East-Asian Jays 

 with the absolutely plain-crowned G. bispecnlaris of the 

 Himalayas. The Chihli Jay has a strong tendency to a blue 

 speculum on the secondaries, and even in Fohkien the 

 southern bird has occasionally traces of black stripes on 

 the crown. 1 have no specimens from western China, but I 

 presume that, as I have written above, there will be found a 

 blending of the north ;ind of the south China birds some- 

 where in west China. Specimens from Huj)eh, central 

 China, are typical G. sinensis. 



The following arc the measurements of the twelve examples 

 of the ("hihli Jay in my collection : — Bill from nostril to tip 

 of culmen ()-78 in.; wing: S 7-13 in., ? 7-19 in.; total 

 length : ^ (5 ex.) l-J-07 in., ? (2 ex.) 14-25 in. 



The soft paits of a male shot on the 25th of October, 

 1916, were: — Iris pale silvery mauve; bill black; base of 

 lower mandible bluish ; legs greyish flesh. The soft parts 

 of other adult specim.cns were similar, those of younger 

 birds being somewhat duller. 



The Chihli Jay is said to be abundant in the forests of the 

 Tung Ling in north-east Chihli. It is not uncommon in 

 the wooded mountains twenty to forty miles north of 

 Chinwangtao, where it feeds a good deal on acoi'us, and nests 

 in oak-trees. Two nest-lininj';s, containing each three eggs, 

 with a live bird snaied in the latter locality, were brought to 

 me on the 26th of May, 1917. One of the eggs is globular 

 oval in shape, and the others are broadly oval or broad oval- 

 ovate. Tiie ground-colour is a clayey buff. This is freckled 

 all over with pale brown, and a zone on the small end 

 appears in one egg, while the others have this round the 

 large end, or have a cap which is formed of a thick under- 

 lying freckling or mottling of reddish grey. Several eggs 

 have the usual soluble dark brown hair-line. The largest 

 egg measures 1-13 X 0-93 in., the smallest l-08x0'93 in., 

 and the six eggs average I'll x 0*93 in. 



1 kept the live bird until tiie following October, when I 

 gave him to Sikawei. This bird was fed on Kaoliang, raw 



