110 Mr. P. L. Sclater on “ Kittacincla auricularis.” 
to the Crateropodinee or Strong-footed Thrushes of Asia and 
Africa, amongst which its nearest ally seems to be the Sibia 
capistrata of the Himalayas. Comparing the two birds together, 
scarcely any difference in form is perceptible, except that the 
bill of Sibia auricularis, as I propose to call it, is slightly stouter 
and not quite so long as that of Sibia capistrata. The style of 
coloration is also not very different in these two species; but the 
pencil of elongated auricular feathers renders the Formosan bird 
readily distinguishable from all its congeners. Although there 
is some sort of general resemblance between Sibia and Copsychus , 
under which genus I include the members of Mr. Gould’s genus 
" Kittacinclai” *, the Sibice are readily recognizable by their large 
and strong feet, and their broader and much less compressed 
bill. In Copsychus the frontal plumes are peculiar, being short 
and erect and covering the base of the bill down to the small 
oval nostrils. In Sibia the nasal apertures are lineariform and 
more exposed, and the frontal plumes do not differ in character 
from those of the rest of the head. In fact there can be no 
possibility of confounding the two forms when an accurate 
examination is made of them, although, of course, it is hardly to 
be expected that Mr. Swinhoe, in the wilds of Formosa, without 
books or specimens to refer to, should always be able to refer 
his new discoveries to the correct genus. 
Another Indian species referred, by l)r. Jerdon, to the genus 
Sibia is the Sibia picaoides (!) of Hodgson, from Nepal, Sikim, 
and Bootan. This bird is, however, decidedly aberrant in form, 
both as regards its more tenuirostral bill and singularly elongated 
tail, which may perhaps necessitate the adoption for it of Mr. 
Blyth’s generic term Heterophasia. A more typical species of 
the genus is Sibia gracilis of McLelland, of which examples j 
collected by Hr. Jerdon in the Khasya hills, are in Mr. Gould’s 
collection. I am not acquainted with Sibia melanoleuca, Tiekell, 
from Tenasserim; but Hr. Jerdon states that it belongs to the 
same type. 
The discovery of a species of Sibia in Formosa is of great 
interest, as affording another instance of the recurrence of Indian 
mountain-forms in this island to which Mr. Swinhoe has already 
called our attention. 
* Confer P. Z. S. 18(51, p. 18/- 
