Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology . 295 
Both specimens of Totanus fuscus were females. Their sto¬ 
machs were also Snipe-like, but more muscular than that of the 
foregoing. They were filled with remains of small crustaceans. 
The csecal appendage was prominent. 
Throughout October Phylloscopus sylvicultrix was abundant, 
as also Lanius lucionensis. Some of the latter continue on well 
into December. In October Egretta alba shows himself in our 
marshes, but he has then assumed his yellow bill, and is shorn 
of his dorsal and pectoral plumes. One was winged the other 
day; and I have him now in keeping, as I wish to note the ver¬ 
nal change of colour in his bill, and the dawning of his nuptial 
livery. 
As I before mentioned [antea, p. 1&6], I received in September, 
from the mountains near Tamsuy, a collection of birds which had 
been shot in August, but I was not able to attend to them till 
November. The following are the notes I made. 
Passer russatus, T. & S., Faun. Japon. The first female 
of this species yet procured in Formosa. A good deal like the 
hen of P. domesticus, but smaller. Its upper parts are, however, 
more tinted with chestnut; and it has other peculiarities, which 
are well described in the ‘ Fauna Japonica. 5 Its bill is light 
brown on the upper mandible, and yellow ochre on the lower. 
Aix galericulata (Mandarin-Duck). A pair—both in the 
ugly plumage of the female, showing that after the breeding- 
season the male of this Duck also assumes the female garb, 
d,length 13*5, wing 8*9. $,length 15, wing 8’7. Instead 
of the dull brown quills touched with grey that mark the female 
wing, the male has the exposed parts of the quills fine dark green 
with pearl-white margins. The rest of his plumage is lighter 
and more glossy. His spectacle-streak is more defined, and on 
his forehead are still a few green feathers. The bills and legs 
of both male and female are too dry to admit of their colours 
being distinguished. In an account of the Birds and Beasts of 
Formosa given in the Chinese statistics of the Taiwan territory 
[vide supra, p. 207], the Mandarin-Duck is admitted as a species 
indigenous to the island. This I was very loth to believe, as, 
knowing it to be partial to inland waters, I could not understand 
how it could make the migration to this island every winter. 
