262 
Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Ornithology 
Adult male. Beak greenish yellow for over | of basal portion, 
apical portion black with vermilion tinge, bright on the culmen, 
near the tip, and on the lower mandible. Inside of mouth orange- 
red. Iris pale straw-yellow. Eye-rim vermilion. Legs bright 
yellow with a greenish tinge; claws black. 
XXV.- 
-Letter from Mr. Swinhoe on the Ornithology of Amoy 
and Foochow . 
4m/ 
To the Editor of ‘ The Ibis.’ 
more words on the birds of this province 
sf 
4W J'lgL/Z. 
Sir, —A few 
(Fuh-keen) before I take my departure to the comparatively new 
field at Formosa. I have submitted a specimen of the Larvivora 
cyanea ? (marked “ 7 ” in * Ibis/ 1860, p. 359) to Mr. Blyth, and 
that gentleman pronounces it perfectly distinct from Hodgson's 
species. I have therefore named it L. gracilis, and beg to offer a 
diagnosis of its characters. ^ ± /W 3 ^5 
/S^U Larvivora gracilis, n. sp. e <UfL.ccL P(aMj 
3 /T Bill, upper mandible brown, lower ochreous, with yellow 
rictus. Legs and claws yellowish flesh-colour. Iris hazel. 
Top of the head dark olive-green, quickly blending into the 
cyanean blue of the upper parts. Wings and tail dark brown, 
tinged with bluish grey, and indistinctly edged with yellowish 
brown. Throat, breast, cheek, and region of the eye yellow 
ochre, the feathers being palely edged with olive brown. Belly 
and vent white. Axillse and flanks dark bluish-grey. 
Length 4^- in., wing 3, tail 1^. Bill | in. Tarse lin.; hind- 
toe its claw 
I twice procured this species in the autumn of 1859. It was 
perhaps a passing migrant, accidentally blown on the island. It 
is very elegant in its contour, and appeared very tame, allowing 
me to approach within a few yards of it. It kept a good deal on 
the ground, hopping and running with a quick ambling motion 
among the dried leaves, expanding and closing its tail with a slight 
vertical depression, and seemed to be searching for small chry¬ 
salides, and for the dipterous insects that had taken refuge 
among the fallen leaves to escape the rude blast that caused the 
