Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 411 
distant. If this be a good species (and I am inclined to think 
it is), it strikes me as rather a strange fact that two species of 
true Numenius should be found indigenous to the same semi- 
tropical island, the smaller species, or Whimbrel, ranging over 
the southern portion, and the present species over the northern. 
N. australis was very abundant on the Peking marshes in 
August; but I have never met with it as a visitant in South 
China, nor yet has it been recorded from Japan. The present 
bird would appear to be a resident species; and we cannot help 
thinking that its differences from the typical N. australis may be 
due to its isolation and inability to interbreed with its near ally. 
The only specimen I have of this interesting Curlew is at pre¬ 
sent in the hands of Mr. Gould. I must therefore extract his 
description of it from the * Proceedings 3 :— 
“ Head, neck, upper and under surface reddish fawn-colour, 
deepest and most conspicuous on the rump and tail-feathers; 
down the centre of each of the feathers of the neck and abdomen 
is a streak of blackish brown, which becomes broader and more 
conspicuous on the neck and breast; primaries blackish brown, 
strongly toothed on their inner margins with greyish white; 
tail-feathers irregularly crossed with blackish brown; thighs 
light buff.” 
I observe, on comparing my bird with a specimen of A 7 . aus¬ 
tralis in Mr. Gould’s collection, that mine has much thinner and 
fewer black streaks on the neck and breast. 
139. Tringa cinclus, L. 
T. alpina , L. 
T. chinensis , Gray. 
My specimens from Formosa vary considerably in length and 
curvature of bill, and proportions of legs; but the summer plu¬ 
mage, in which I procured several examples, proves them to be 
nothing more than the true European Stint. I may here remark 
that, owing to my specimens in winter plumage from China 
having been wrongly identified, I have entered this species in 
my previous lists as Tringa suharcuata. The true Pigmy Curlew 
has been found near Peking; but it visits rarely, if ever, the 
southern coasts of China; at least I do not recollect ever having 
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