265 
Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 
trilling note, which has some resemblance to that of a Canary, but 
yet differs from that of any other bird I know. All the species 
that I have met with in a wild state have the same style of note, 
though disagreeing in many minor respects, and by practice can 
easily be distinguished. On a bright sunny day to witness a 
party of these birds fly across a wooded glen is a magnificent 
sight, the brilliancy of their tints contrasting well with the 
sombre hue of the surrounding foliage. But it is a still more 
beautiful sight to watch a group of these pretty creatures, male 
and female, examining an evergreen tree for insects. They frisk 
and flutter about the leaves, throwing themselves into all sorts 
of positions, and assuming the most difficult attitudes, as if 
delighting, in the ordinary business of feeding, to show to the 
greatest advantage those charms with which nature has so amply 
endowed them. In summer they retire into the depths of the 
highest forests, whither it was impossible for me to follow them. 
27. Graucalus rex-pineti, n. sp. 
6. Length 11 in.: wing 74: tail 5. 
2. , 11 in.; J V; „B. 
This is another inhabitant of the interior forest-covered moun¬ 
tains, a pair of which were brought to me by my hunters. It 
is called by the Chinese the Sam-ong, or Pine King, and is noted 
for its loud unmusical notes. It comes but rarely from its 
wooded haunts to the cleared ranges in the hands of the colonists, 
and I have thus had no opportunity of watching its habits. I 
have never met with any species of this genus in China, and, 
from the limited areas inhabited by all the insular species that 
I am acquainted with, I should be disposed to decide on the 
Formosan representative being peculiar, though all the forms of 
the Campephaga group run so close in the immature plumage, 
that it is often difficult to determine them without a careful 
comparison of adults. In our case, however, the difficulty 
vanishes, as both the birds procured are adults, the one a male, 
the other a female. 
The bill and feet of the male are black ; soles light dingy, with 
ochreous tints. The bill and feet of the female are rather lighter. 
In the male, the lores, space round the eyes, cheeks, and chin 
