314 Mr. R. Swinhoe on Formosan Ornithology. 
identified by him (page 186) with Pallas's Motacilla luteola. 
Middendorff's single specimen was a male, shot on the 8th of 
June, and we may therefore suppose it to be in summer plu¬ 
mage. By our bird, which was procured in winter, we see that 
there is no difference in the plumage of that season. If, then, 
Middendorff's specimen was truly a male, the species cannot be 
identified with M. mugimaki of the ‘ Fauna Japonica,' which 
has the back black and more white on the wing. Neither is it 
the Motacilla luteola of Pallas; for in the ‘ Zoographia Rosso-Asia- 
tica' (i. p. 470) this species is described “ supra cinerea (my bird 
is olive-green on the upper parts), subtus albida, gula colloque 
ferrugineis, rectricibus lateralibus medio transversim albis.'' 
Pallas never saw the bird, but described it from Messerschmid's 
notes, and this latter speaks of the species as u chryso-bronchites 
albicilla." After a careful perusal of the whole of Pallas's article 
on this subject, I feel convinced he is speaking of the male of 
Erythrosterna parva (L.), which is the western form of-E. leucura 
(Gmelin), and is distinguished from it by the greater extent of 
orange on the throat and breast. The latter appears to be the 
Chinese race, but both are said to have occurred in India. Pallas's 
Motacilla albicilla (Z. R.-A. i. p. 462) is the winter plumage 
of one of the two allied forms; but of which, it is difficult to de¬ 
termine. I cannot tell how in the winter-garb the two are to 
be differentiated. The latest name for our species would seem 
to be Muscicapa erythaca , Blyth. Mr. Blyth tells me that he 
founded this species on a single specimen procured at Penang. 
I procured a single specimen some years ago at Amoy, which I 
described as M. hylocharis (Ibis, 1862, p. 305). This had no 
white at the base of the rectrices. I dissected it, and considered 
it a male at the time. Yon Schrenk (Reise u. Forsch. Amurl. i. 
p. 2, tab. xiii. fig. 1) figures a young bird having the white in 
question. Mine may have been a variety, or a female. One 
with the white was shot by Mr. Gustav Schlegel at Amoy. I do 
not know where Mr. Blyth published his description of the 
Penang bird, but I should not be surprised if it proved to be 
distinct, and that our bird were without a name. 
Pallas's Muscicapa grisola , var. j3 , seems identical with M. 
