PARADOXORNIS HEUDEI, a. DaM. 



Pere Heude's Paradoxornis. 



Paradoxornis Heudei, David, Comptes Rendus, lxxiv. p. 1449.— Id. Rev. Zool. 1872, p. 359; J. Verr. N. Arch. 

 Mus. ix. Bull. pi. 4. fig. 2. 



From a very early period of my ornithological career I have always been led to expect to see a true 

 Calamophilus from Eastern Asia ; but up to the present time this has never turned up. On the other hand, 

 a new and highly interesting sedge-loving bird has lately been described by Pere David, and skins forwarded 

 to this couutry for Mr. Swinhoe's collection. I herewith offer my best thanks to the last-named gentleman 

 for the loan of these specimens, and am sure that the birds now figured will be full of interest to the ornitho- 

 logical public. In colour, general markings, and softness of plumage the present bird is almost similar to 

 our own Reedling ; and it is principally in its larger size and Paradoxomis-Uke bill that the greatest differ- 

 ences are observable. 



The following is an extract from the original account of the species by Pere David : — " Pere Heude, a 

 missionary at Shanghai, actively busies himself with studying and collecting the natural productions of the 

 province in which he resides. Among the birds shown to me by him during a recent visit to that town, are 

 several not yet included in the ornithological catalogues of Chinese birds. I now refer specially to a very 

 interesting form belonging to that curious group of insectivorous birds which is represented in Eastern Asia 

 by the genera Conostoma, Cholornis, Paradoxornis, and Suthora. The bird I allude to appears to me to be 

 intermediate between these last two genera, and might perhaps constitute the type of a new one. I range it 

 provisionally with the genus Paradoxornis, of which it exhibits the most important characters. Pere Heude 

 having permitted me to take a description of the bird, which is unique in his collection, I hasten to transmit 

 it, feeling that it is at the same time my duty to dedicate this new species to him by the name of Paradox- 

 ornis Heudei." 



My kind friend Consul Swinhoe has also comunicated the following extract from a letter received from 

 Pere Heude, and dated " Sikaiwei, Sept. 29th, 1873." He writes : — "The Kiang-Sou Paradoxornis frequents 

 the large reeds. When they are cut down it takes refuge in those which are kept in a reserve-store in the 

 enclosures of gardens &c. ; I have not seen it on bushes. It extends, to my knowledge, the length of the 

 Yang-tsze river from Kin-Kiang to Nanking and Kew-Kiang, on the edge of the great lake Hang-tse. It 

 flies in company, like its near ally Suthora, making a great noise when climbing up the dry reed-stalks, which 

 it attacks vigorously from the bottom, examining each stalk to its top, and then passing on to another. Its 

 sono- is a warbling ' re-)i-ri,' sonorous and melancholy. When one is fully accustomed to the note it can be 

 distinguished from afar, the birds calling to one another without ceasing. They are very easily approached, 

 and are not wild. Length of male 0*19 mill., of female 01 6 mill. Iris rosy red. These dimensions 

 are extreme ; and there are slight differences between these limits." 



The accompanying descriptions are from Mr. Swinhoe's specimens. 



Adult male. — Head and hind neck grey, gradually assuming a lilac shade on the interscapulary region as 

 it passes off into the chestnut back, the upper part of which is slightly streaked with dark brown; on each 

 side of the crown a narrow line of black extending down the sides of the neck; lores and sides of face light 

 greyish white ; throat white ; fore neck whitish, tinged with lilac ; upper breast chestnut-maroon, the rest of 

 the under surface fulvous fawn-colour, lighter down the middle of the abdomen and under tail-coverts ; under 

 wing-coverts whitish, as also the edge of the wing ; upper wing-coverts deep chestnut-maroon ; quills sepia- 

 brown, externally washed with rufous, extending round the tips and some way up the margin of the inner 

 web, the secondaries margined with whitish buff, the innermost broadly black in the centre, the half of the 

 inner web white for its whole length, forming a distinct longitudinal streak down the sides of the back ; 

 rump straw-coloured, the upper tail-coverts paler ; tail black, with conspicuous white tips to the feathers, 

 more or less shaded with fawn-colour, the two centre feathers fulvous fawn-colour, deeper on the margins. 



Adult female. More dull-coloured than the male, and with a much smaller bill; all the colours less 



intensified, the maroon of the back absent, and the head nearly uniform with the back, having only a very 



slight tinge of grey. 



Both sexes are represented in the Plate, and are life-size. 



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