298 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 
hatching the eggs ; but I can neither confirm nor reject this from 
my own observations.” It is easier to make observations on the 
nesting of birds in Europe than in tropical countries; so you 
had better set your Andalusian correspondents to scent after the 
species of this group that occurs within their region. It is likely 
enough that this advantage over the male of which the human 
fair is possessed only in leap-year, will be found to be annually 
enjoyed by their more fortunate sisters among certain birds; and 
the right of contending for their husbands would then, accord¬ 
ing to Mr. Darwin’s theory of sexual selection, he the cause of their 
developing a handsomer plumage than their mates. I have an 
idea that among the Rhynchcece the duties of incubation also 
devolve upon the male bird; for the females are found knocking 
about together in flocks before the close of summer, at a season 
when more matronly birds prefer looking after their families to 
gadding. I have not, however, been fortunate enough to fall in 
with the nest of our representative of this very interesting genus ; 
and Dr. Jerdon makes no remark on the subject. 
I was in Amoy the last few days of November. I found in 
a friend^s aviary a bird that has not occurred to me in South 
China before. It is a Porphyrio , smaller than P. poliocephalus 
of India, and certainly not that species. It may be P. smarag- 
dinus, Temm., of the Straits. It was in too bad plumage for 
me to take a note of it worth having. My friend told me that 
he got it from a Chinese rustic who was playing with it, and 
who said that it had been taken in that neighbourhood. I was 
told that at night its plumage displayed a phosphorescence ! 
At the Pescadores, as is usual, I was delayed both going and 
coming. With the exception of a Peregrine Falcon and two or 
three Gulls, I saw no wild birds there. In the chief town, 
Makung, several pairs of the pretty White Dove were brought 
to me for sale. As I have before stated, these Doves are said 
to be reminiscences of the former Dutch possession of these 
islands, and to have been introduced from Java. They are now 
bred by the Chinese in confinement, and are much prized. They 
seem to me to be simply albinos of the Domestic Dove, which is 
usually referred to Turtur risorius. 
On the 17th of December, while riding down to this port 
