288 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology . 
In the young birds the plumage is much browner, and the 
feathers of the under parts margined and tipped with greyish 
white. All my specimens were procured in the spring of 1862, 
but many of them still retain markings of the immature 
plumage, thereby showing that the autumnal moult is not a 
complete transformation of the young into the mature plumage. 
In the adult the wings are brownish black, the quills, especially 
the secondaries, being broadly margined with bluish grey; the 
wing-coverts are also black, but less distinctly margined. The 
tail is brownish black, all the feathers, except the outermost, being 
margined exteriorly for the greater part of their length with 
bluish grey. The feathers of the crown are long and lanceolate. 
The nearest allies of this species are the H. psaroides, Vigors, 
from Nepal, and the H. ganeesa , Sykes, from Assam, both of 
which are of blackish-grey plumage, and both have, like it, red 
bills and legs. I know no similar species from China. The only 
bird of this genus that I have seen from the hills of Southern 
China is a green species—my H. holtii —very closely allied to 
H. maclellandi , Horsf., from Bootan and Nepal. The Formosan 
bird is at once distinguishable from its Nepalese cousins by its 
much blacker colouring ; hence the appropriate name suggested 
by Mr. Gould. This species is found in all the wooded parts of 
the interior mountain-range, feeding largely on berries and the 
small figs of the numerous species of Fici that abound, including 
those of the Chinese Banyan (F. nitida). Insects also form part 
of its subsistence, chiefly small Coleoptera. It rambles in small 
parties, in winter, about the high country, and may be found at 
all altitudes that are clothed with forest. In the spring these 
parties break up, and the birds disperse for the purpose of nidi- 
fication. At this season a few pairs may be found in the better- 
wooded portions of the low country. 
On my trip into the interior in the latter half of April, I ob¬ 
served one of these birds in an orchard composed of venerable 
moss- and fern-covered trees. It perched on the highest twigs 
of the trees, giving utterance to its song, which consisted of the 
notes “swee-swee-swee,” repeated loudly and in quick succession. 
There was not much melody in it. When it observed me, it flew 
to a further tree, whence finally I shot it. 
