2 REMARKS ON THE GENUS SUYA. 



Now neither his specimens nor the dimensions he gives 

 show his birds to be a bit larger than Suya crinigera, Hodgson, 

 for which I had always thought S. lepida was a misprint. 

 But thinking over the matter, I do not doubt that Swinhoe had 

 received from Blyth a specimen of Burnesia lepida, which 

 Blyth at one time called Drymoeca, and at a another Suya, 

 and that taking this for Hodgson's Himalayan species, he 

 naturally enough found his Formosan bird (l very much larger." 



Anyhow the Formosan birds are absolutely identical with 

 Himalayan ones. The species is one that varies incredibly in 

 size, (wing from barely, 18 to 2'35, or even more), females being, 

 as Swinhoe correctly remarks, much smaller than males, and in 

 coloration; but both Chinese specimens are matchable to a feather 

 by others in our very large Himalayan and Khasia Hill series. 



Although I have no specimens to compare, and cannot there- 

 fore " make assurance doubly sure," I feel assured that Suya 

 parumsiriata, Dav. and Oust., Ois. de la. Chine, 259, 1877, is 

 merely one stage of this same species. 



Suya fuliginosa, Hodgs. (Gr. Zool. Miscl., 1844, 82, sine 

 descr. ; Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. C, 326, 1854; descr. orig.) 

 with the black bill is beyond all doubt merely the breeding 

 plumage of crinigera. 



Lastly, Suya obscura, Hume, (S. F., II., 507, 1874,) is, I now 

 strongly suspect, only one stage of this same protean species. 

 The type, however, (and I have met with no other specimen and 

 cannot remember clearly what the type was like,) belonged to 

 Captain Biddulph, and is now, I believe, in Mr. Sharpens custody 

 in the Bi'itish Museum, and he can easily satisfy himself 

 whether my surmise is correct. 



It may now be well to explain briefly the more striking differ- 

 ences between the breeding and midwinter plumage of crinigera. 



Non-breeding Plumage. Breeding Plumage. 



Bill. — Brown above ; greater Bill. — Entirely black. 



part of lower mandible pale 



yellowish or pinkish horny. 



Head and upper back. — Rich, Head and upper back. — Duller 



more or less rufescent and and duskier brown — the pale 



more or less deep brown, strias faded to greyish, very 



conspicuously striated with much reduced in width, often 



pale, more or less rufescent almost obsolete. 



lawn or yellowish brown. 



Quills. — Margined with bright Quills. — Margined with a pale 



ferruginous (growing duller faintly rufescent olivaceous. 



month by month). 



Supercilmm. — Small, and in- Superciliiim.—None. 



conspicuous, creamy. 



