the Birds of the Island of Formosa. 183 
obviously taken from Chinese examples, the throat, middle 
of the breast, and belly being described as whitish. 
Under these circumstances David’s name of I. superciliaris 
should be retained for the Chinese form, for, though his 
original brief description does not mention any of the 
characteristics which distinguish the Chinese bird from the 
A. brunnea Gould, it is certain that his type specimen came 
from Foh-kien, whence we have numerous examples. 
85. *SracHYRHIDOPSIS PRECOGNITUS (Swinh.). 
Stachyrhis precognitus Swinh., Ibis, 1866, p. 310. 
Stachyridopsis ruficeps Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. vu. 
p- 598 (1883) [part.] ; La Touche (nec Blyth), [bis, 1895, 
pp. 314, 382. 
a-c. 6. Racu Racu Mts., 6000 ft., Jan., Feo. 1906. 
In his paper on the birds of Hainan (ef. P. Z.S. 1900, 
p. 476), Ogilvie-Grant identified a single specimen from 
that island as S. precognitus, and at the same time drew 
attention to the distinctive characters of the Chinese form, 
but refrained from giving it a name. 
Subsequently, in the ‘ Bulletin’ of the British Orni- 
thologists’ Club [xiv. pp. 8 & 9 (1903)], Mr. Rothschild, 
having received twelve specimens from Mt. Wuchi, described 
the Hainan bird as a distinct subspecies, and at the same 
time gave the characteristics of three other allied forms, 
viz. :—S. ruficeps (Blyth), S. rufifrons (Hume), and S. pre- 
coynitus (Swinh.). He, however, entirely ignored the Chinese 
race, which has quite as good a ciaim as the others to be 
recognised as distinct. Thanks to Mr. C. B. Rickett, we have 
now a very large series of the Chinese form. 
S. ruficeps and its allies may be briefly characterized as 
follows :— 
(1) S. ruricers (Blyth). 
Crown light chestnut, which extends over the nape; upper 
parts warm brownish olive ; throat and under parts yellow, 
inclining to buff on the breast ; sides and flanks tawny- 
olive. 
Hab. Nepal and Sikhim to Assam. 
