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GARRULAX CHINENSIS. 



Chinese Garrulax. 



Lanius chinensis, Scop. 



Turdm shanhu, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., torn. i. p. 84.— Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 337. 



melanopsis, Gmel. ibid. p. 1829. 



Corvus auritus, Daud. Orn., torn. ii. p. 250.— Swinh. in Ibis, 1865, p. 350. 



Crateropus leucogenys, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xi. p. 180. 



Garrulax shanhu, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 225, Garrulax, sp. 2. 



- chinensis, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol xiv. p. 598.— Id. Cat. of Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc. 

 Bengal, p. 95.— Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., torn. i. p. 370, Garrulax, sp. 4.— Horsf. and Moore, Cat. of 

 Birds in Mus. East-Ind. Comp., vol. i. p. 202.-Gray, Hand-list of Birds, part i. p. 202.-Swinh. 

 Ibis, 1864, p. 423— Id. Proc. of Zool. Soc. for 1871, p. 371. 



Le petit Geay de la Chine, Sonn. Voy. aux Ind. Orient. &c, torn. ii. 



Le Geai ajoues blanches, Levaill. Hist. Nat. des Ois. de Parad. &c, torn. i. p. 125, pi. 43. 



Black-faced Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. ii. p. 37.— Steph. Cont. of Shaw's Gen. Zool., vol. x. part i. p. 292.— Lath. 

 Gen. Hist., vol. v. p. 112. 



Shanhu of the Chinese, Lath. 



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A fine example of this interesting bird having lived for two or three seasons in the menagerie of the Zoo- 

 logical Society of London, I did not fail to make a drawing of it, such an opportunity of figuring from life 

 rarely occurring with respect to insessorial birds which are natives of the distant country of China. And here 

 it will not be out of place to allude to the value of the above-mentioned Societv from the interest it affords to 

 the artist and the naturalist, as well as to the public at large, by furnishing them with opportunities of studying 

 the habits, so far as they are shown in a state of captivity, of the various animals it may from time to time 

 possess : to the zoological artist, indeed, it is of incalculable benefit, inasmuch as, however well he may be 

 able to depict a species from its dried skin, it must of necessity be far better executed from the living object. 



The following notice, by Mr. R. W. G. Frith, of a specimen of this bird in confinement is given by Mr. Blyth 

 in the ' Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol. xii. p. 179 Ms: — "The bird was excessively tame 

 and familiar, and delighted (like a Cockatoo) in being caressed and tickled by the hand, when it would 

 spread out its wings and assume very singular attitudes. It was naturally a fine songster, and a most uni- 

 versal imitator. Whenever chopped meat or other food was put into its cage, it always evinced a propensity 

 to deposit the bits one by one between the wires (a habit it has in common with the Shrikes, and which is also 

 strikingly manifested by the Kitta venatoria and sometimes even by Mynahs) ; and when a bee or wasp was 

 offered, this bird would seize it instantly, and invariably turn its tail round and make the insect sting, this 

 several times successively, before eating it. A large beetle it would place before it on the ground, and 

 pierce it with a violent downward stroke of the bill; a small snake (about a foot long) it treated in 

 like manner, transfixing the centre of the head ; it afterwards devoured about half the snake, holding it 

 by one foot, while it picked it with the bill, which was its common mode of feeding." 



Mr. Swinhoe, in his Notes on the Birds of China, remarks: — "In the Hong-kong bird-shops I saw in 

 cages GarrulaoD chinensis. I have never met with it wild, and therefore fancy its range is south of Canton." 



In his notes from Takow, Formosa, the same gentleman says : — 



"This bird I purchased alive and sent to Dr. Squire for the Society's Gardens. It seems to range from 

 the extreme south of China to the Tenasserim Provinces, where Mr. Blyth procured it. I have never met 

 with this fine species in a state of nature. Its ordinary call is like a corvine croak. It also emits a loud 

 note like ' hurrah,' often repeated in a low whistle. It was very lively and noisy. 



"Bill black; legs and claws brown; irides crimson. Forehead, and a short crest at the base of the 

 culmen, black, a streak of which colour also encircles the eye, and a patch of the same occurs on the throat and 

 under the neck ; just in the rear of the frontal crest are a few pointed white feathers ; and there is an oval 

 white patch on each cheek; the general plumage is cinereous; back, wings, and tail olive-brown, darker on 

 the two latter, with deep-coloured shafts, quills edged with cinereous; blue-grey on the head." 



The Plate represents the bird in two positions, of the size of life. I believe there is no external dif- 

 fence in the sexes. 





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