294 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 
slow and somewhat hovering, and they observe no order or 
figure. 
October 22.—A friend returned from a shooting-excursion 
this afternoon. The Snipes bagged were Gallinago media and 
G, stenura, in equal numbers, and one very large specimen 
of G. solitaria. This last bird was of a richer ochreous-brown 
than usual. It was a female, and on dissection was found to 
possess the peculiar caecal appendage before referred to (Ibis, 
t/ 1865, p. 231). Several long thin white tapeworms were wound 
round its intestines, the longest worm measuring two inches*. 
The stomach was more muscular than in the Common Snipe, 
and contained a mass of green fibrous matter, apparently Algae, 
Can the use of this substance be to aid digestion ? The caeca 
were minute, as in G. stenura , G. media having them long. 
Among the other water-birds procured, the most noteworthy 
were two examples of Tot anus fuscus and one of T. affinis. The 
latter is new to the Formosan list, but I have procured it before 
at Amoy. Mr. Blyth and others had some doubts as to T. affi¬ 
nis being a good species, but I am convinced of its validity. 
My friend observed several pairs of this bird; and as I know it 
to be amongst the earliest arrivals near Amoy, it is not impro¬ 
bable that a few breed in low latitudes in China. 
Tqtanus affinis, Horsf. Bill olive-green at basal half, black 
at tip. Inside of mouth dusky flesh-colour. Iris deep brown. 
Ear-coverts behind the occipital line of the eye, and large for the 
size of the head. Legs and toes rich ochreous-olive, with black 
nails. Tail of twelve feathers, the two central about *2 inch the 
longest, the next *1 less, the rest equal. It was a female, on 
dissection showing a cluster of minute eggs. Its stomach was 
heart-shaped. Snipe-like, and not very muscular, with a black 
lining, and containing one minute Paludina with shell entire, 
besides remains of freshwater insects, together with algae-like 
fibres. Its whole body was imbedded in fat. I examined care¬ 
fully its intestines, but could discover no caeca of any kind. 
* [Some specimens sent home by our correspondent have been kindly 
identified for us by Dr. Cobbold as Taenia gallinaginis, Rudolphi, Synops. 
Entoz. p. 173.— Ed.] 
