N \ 
292 Mr. R, Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 
in our examples. I have not been able to procure specimens 
from Eastern Europe to ascertain whether this variation indicates 
the eastern race. We never met with the Redwing, and only 
once or twice with the Fieldfare ( Turdus pilaris) in winter. I 
have a specimen shot in February close to Jerusalem. Turdus 
musicus often occurred in winter in the higher grounds; and I 
occasionally noticed it in the wooded parts of northern Galilee 
in spring, but we did not find its nest. Turdus merula , on the 
contrary, was scattered in every part of the country through¬ 
out the year, remaining to breed even in the sultry Ghor. It 
was nowhere abundant, and was one of the most retiring and shy 
of the inhabitants of the thickets. It is precisely identical with 
our Blackbird. We never found the Mistletoe-Thrush, though 
it must certainly exist in the Lebanon, and probably in Gilead, 
since it remains in the Tunisian Atlas and in Asia Minor through 
the year. 
The Bulbul of Palestine (Iaus xanthopygius , H. & Ehr.) I 
have already described (Ibis, 1865, p. 81), as well as the only 
representative of the Timaliine group, Crater opus chalybeiuSj Bp. 
I may add to my description of the former that the specimens 
from the Jordan valley are at all seasons of the year much 
lighter in colour than those from the upper country, and that 
this distinction holds good without exception in a series of over 
/sly Jys 
thirty specimens. 
XXV.— Ornithological Notes from Fot'mosa. By Robert 
Swinhoe, Her Majesty's Consul at Taiwan, F.Z.S., &c. 
(Plate IX.) 
The last Number of the expired series of ‘The Ibis' having at 
length reached me, I have given it my attention. The “ Notes on 
the Birds of Siam," by Sir Robert Schomburgk, deserve a few 
comments. Under the head of Alcedo bengalensis, the remark¬ 
able “ white-spotted species of the Halcyon family " is, without 
doubt, Ceryle rudis } of wide distribution. I would suggest that 
Sir Robert's (( Turtur suratensis” should be rather T. tigrinus of 
Temminck, represented in China by T. chinensis. 
The observations on the habits of Sturnopastor nigricollis I 
