Mr. J. Gould on new Birds from Formosa. 165 



In dedicating this fine bird to Mr. Swinhoe, I feel that I am only- 

 paying a just compliment to a gentleman who must ever rank among 

 the foremost of those travellers who have enriched ornithology by 

 their numerous Eastern discoveries. 



Genus Bambusicola, Gould. \ 



Generic characters. — Bill moderately long, and very\imilar in 

 form to that of Perdix ; nostrils covered by an operculum^ wings 

 moderately long, round, and concave, the fifth primary the loWest ; 

 tail somewhat more lengthened than in Perdix, rounded or incKiied 

 to a wedge-shape ; tarsi rather long, and armed with a wcll-defin€d 

 but blunt spur ; toes longer than in Po'dix, the two lateral oneS 

 equal in length, and united at their base by a membrane ; hind toe^ 

 rather long and free. 



Sexes alike, as in Caccabis, but the female destitute of a spur. 



This is a very distinct form among the Gallinacece, the species of 

 which, so far as we yet know, are only two in number, namely, the 

 present bird and the Galloperdix sphenvrus of China. Both evince 

 a predilection for forests of bamboo, which circumstance has suggested 

 the generic appellation. In point of affinity they equally approach 

 the members of the genera Perdix and Caccabis. 



Bambusicola sonorivox, Gould. 



Male : crown of the head rusty brown, each feather obscurely 

 barred and freckled with blackish brown ; lores, ear-coverts, chest, 

 back of the neck, and chest grey, each feather minutely freckled with 

 blackish brown ; back and rump olive, each feather minutely freckled 

 with blackish brown ; those of the back, nearest the mantle, largely 

 blotchtd with deep chestnut ; these chestnut marks also extend over 

 the shoulders, near the tips of which is a lanceolate spot of white ; a 

 similar but more obscure mark also occupies the sides of the wing- 

 coverts, but, instead of being white, it is pale f^xvvn-colour ; greater 

 wing-coverts chestnut in the centre, then black, fringed with deep 

 buff; prin^.aries blackish brown externally, margined with reddish 

 chestnut ; two middle tail-feathers freckled brown, buflf, and black ; 

 the remainder deep chestnut brown ; abdomen rich cinnamon, with 

 a bar of rich chestnut near the tip of all the feathers of the flanks ; 

 thighs cinnamon-brown ; bill and legs blackish brown. 



Total length, 9\ inches ; bill, 1 ; wing, 5^; tail, 4 ; tarsi, 1|. 



Female similarly coloured. 



The young, at about a month old, have acquired much of the 

 colouring of the adults, but the centre feathers of the back and 

 shoulders are darker, with lighter edges, giving this part of the 

 plumage a very sparkling appearance. 



NUMENIUS RUFESCENS, Gould. 



Head, neck, upper and under surface reddish fawn-colour, deepest 

 and most conspicuous on the rump and tail-feathers ; down the 

 centre of each of the feathers is a streak of blackish brown, broadest 

 and most conspicuous on the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts; 

 primaries blackish brown, strongly toothed on their inner margins 



