264 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology . 
much lighter than in the male, and the throat greyish white, 
washed with yellow. Centre of belly snowy white. In the 
adult males the throat is quite grey; but in the majority of skins 
in my possession it is whitish, with an indication of yellowish. 
I have one male in the transition plumage, where the yellow-and- 
greenish garb of the female is brightening into the more highly 
tinted dress of the male. This gives us the plumage of the 
young bird, which is similar to the female, but more dully 
coloured, and at a younger stage probably mottled. In this trans¬ 
ition state, this specimen teaches us that the yellow of the tail 
is the first to undergo a change, being here almost entirely red. 
Bill and legs black; irides hazel. Tibial feathers in male 
black, ochreous on the inner side; in the female olive-grey, 
with yellow on the inner sides. 
6 . Length 7 in.; wing ; tail 3^ ; tarsi f. $ . Length 6| 
in.; wing 3^; tail 3^, of twelve feathers, the first three very 
short and much graduated, the rest nearly equal. 
The nearest ally to this species is the Pericrocotus Solaris } Blyth, 
from Nepaul and Bootan (figured in Gould's f Birds of Asia/ i. 
t. 4). I have compared our bird with a skin of that species in my 
possession. The P. Solaris is much browner on the upper parts 
than ours, and has the flammeous tints much less bright; but 
the chief distinctions are its bright orange throat and its orange 
thighs, which, from the above description, it will be seen are differ¬ 
ently coloured in our species. The two species, however, run 
close, and, with numerous other birds as well as mammals, prove 
the affinity that the Formosan fauna bears to the Himalayan, 
rather than to that of the lower mountains of the Chinese coast. 
In the hilly country of N.W. Formosa the Hee-ah is an 
abundant species, found all the year through. In the winter it 
associates in large flocks, many of these consisting almost en¬ 
tirely of males, and ranges about from wood to wood, and tree to 
tree, in the lower country. The females generally prefer remain¬ 
ing in the denser shelter of the mountain jungle, and do not 
evince such roving spirits as their lords; hence the small 
number of this sex that I was enabled to procure as compared 
with males. When on the wing, and in fact wherever they are, 
the Pericrocoti soon make their presence known by their peculiar 
