62 Lieut. R. E. Vauglian and Staff-Surg. K. H. Jones 



lay aside much of his natural wariness, so that he is then 

 easily approached. 



The birds feed on insects, for which they may, by careful 

 watching, be seen diligently searching in the scrubby 

 bush Avhich clothes so much of the Hong Kong hill-sides. 

 When so engaged they give vent to harsh guttural 

 chuckings, very unlike the tones of their songs. They 

 make a considerable noise, scattering the dead leaves in 

 all directions in the search for food, and by this may often 

 be localized long before it is possible to see them. 



They nest from the beginning of April until July, and 

 undoubtedly produce two broods in the year. The nest 

 varies considerably; sometimes it is a fairly neat, though 

 lightly built structure, the outside being of coarse grass or 

 of the leaves of a wild cane (^ISdiiznstadnjum dumetorum), 

 very common on the hill-sides, lined Avith finer grasses ; or 

 it is sometimes made almost entirely of pine-needles and 

 lined with the same. As a rule, it is placed in a bush at 

 an elevation of two or three feet from the ground, but 

 not infrequently it is found almost on the ground itself, 

 and is never seen at a greater elevation than about six 

 feet. 



This bird is a close sitter and does not leave its eggs until 

 one is almost on the top of the nest ; it then flutters off 

 without any demonstration and disappears at once into the 

 scrvib. 



The usual clutch appears to be of four eggs, for thei? was 

 never a case in which a less number was found to have 

 been sat upon, and more were never seen. 



This species is extremely popular with the Chinese as a 

 cage-bird ; but although it is not to be found elsewhere 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of Hong Kong than in the 

 island itself, the suggestion that it has been introduced 

 by the escape of caged individuals seems hardly justifiable. 

 It is merely an example of the extraordinary localization 

 of certain species in this part of China. It is a resident 

 at Macao, and was heard at Wuchau and in the gorges 



