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Show 1870.] MR. R. SWINHOE ON A NEW DEER FROM CHINA. 89 ing to the boles or branches in various attitudes, and searching with its hard curved bill for insects under the decayed bark. When thus engaged it utters a great variety of chirps and guttural sounds, interspersed with short agreeable notes. It has also a continuous song, low and varied, with a peculiar ventriloquism in some notes which gives the listener a confused idea that the performer approaches and retires when singing. The first bird of this species I shot was but slightly wounded in the wing, and fell into a stream ; to my great surprise it began singing as it floated about on the surface of the water, and even when I had taken it out continued to sing at intervals in m y hand. I subsequently found a nest of this bird; it was about 7 inches deep, composed entirely of lichens curiously woven together, and suspended from the twigs of a low tree. The male and female fluttered round me, manifesting great anxiety (though there were no eggs in the nest), and uttering a rapid succession of notes, very different from their usual song. But what was most surprising in this singing to express their trouble was the close resemblance of every note to those of some other bird, generally of one of our common songsters (such as Turdus rufiventris, Mimus calandria, and others). In a few days I returned to the spot to secure the nest and observe them again, but found, to m y sorrow, nest and birds had disappeared. Perhaps Icterus pyrrhopterus possesses the faculty of imitation ; at the time I heard this pair I thought it could not be otherwise, but I have not observed them long enough to be positive. Certainly they are incapable of expressing their passions by harsh or loud notes. « T a m > Sir, truly yours, "WILLIAM H. HUDSON." The following papers were read:- 1. On a new Deer from China. By R. S W I N H O E , F.Z.S. (Plates VI. & VII.) While in Formosa I was informed by a gentleman there, who had lived at the port of Chinkiang, that a Hog-backed Deer, with coarse hair, was common on an island in the river Yangtsze and afforded excellent sport to the European residents during the wiuter. From my friend's description, I supposed the animal to be Hy elaphus porcinus of India, and communicated the fact to Mr. P. L. Sclater, who read m y notice to this Society on the 27th June, 1865 (see P. Z. S. 1865, p. 510). Last winter I had the opportunity of visiting Shanghai, and found this so-called Hog-deer in the market, and then saw it to be quite a distinct species, without horns, and of great interest. I have brought home with me the skin and skull of a buck, and the skulls of two does. These I beg to exhibit to this Meeting, and to propose for this new Deer the specific term of inermis, from its hornless state, and to place it under a new genus, for which |
