OCR Text |
Show 132 MR. R. SWINHOE ON NEW CHINESE BIRDS. [Mar. 10, magnirostris, Less., of Malacca and Sumatra. I have much pleasure in dedicating this novelty to our President, Viscount Walden. 2. ABRORNIS FULVIFACIES, sp. nov. Forehead and face orange-buff. Upper parts olive-green. The feathers of the crown and occiput long and broad, with broad median blackish-brown streaks. Wings light hair-brown, broadly margined with olive-green. Rump primrose-yellow, greenish on upper tail-coverts. Tail pale olive-brown, broadly margined, especially on the basal half, with olive-green. Under parts dull white, yellowish on tbe chin, with a large patch of blackish mottling on the throat. A slight band crossing the breast, tibial feathers, and vent greenish yellow. Axillaries yellowish, with yellow carpal edge. Under edges of quills primrose-white. Sexes similar. Bill brownish ochre, brown on culmen and tip of lower mandible, with black rictal bristles two-thirds the length of the bill. Iris rich brown. Legs and claws brownish ochre. Length 3*3 ; wing 1*95 ; tail 1*7, of ten nearly equal feathers; bill in front *24, its breadth at base *12 ; tarse '55 ; fore toes small, with small claws ; hind toe large and long in proportion, with strong claw. Wing: first quill *82, second -4, third "15 shorter than fourth to seventh, which are nearly equal and longest. This bird is nearly related to Abrornis albogularis, Hodgs., and A. castaneiceps, Hodgs., of Nepal and Sikhim. Both my specimens have only ten feathers in the tail. Jerdon does not speak of the number of rectrices in the two Himalayan species. In the bamboo-groves that lined the mountainous sides of the river in Szechuen, about Chungchow and above, I often noticed this diminutive bird. The male utters a long-drawn plaintive whistle, and they chase one another with short chattering notes. On the 10th of May I watched a couple of them in an open copse in front of a cottage ; they were picking up and carrying about small bits of straw, no doubt to build their nest with. They were so tame that they allowed me to come within a yard of them. I had not the heart to shoot them. 3. ZOSTEROPS SUBROSEUS, sp. nov. Close to Z. simplex of South China in general colour and appearance. Has a shorter and straighter bill; a yellow forehead; a black line from above the rictus to the fore angle of the eye, encroaching on the white ring. Its wing is edged with darker green. Its axillaries white, with less yellow on the carpal edge. Its under parts greyish white, bluer grey on the sides of the breast, and dingier on the flanks. But the great mark of difference is in its having its belly and the sides thereof washed with a pretty rose-colour. Bill indigo-black on upper mandible and apical third of lower, basal two-thirds pale indigo-grey. Irides light reddish brown, with whitish outer ring. Legs light lavender-leaden, with dingy yellowish soles and under surface of claws. Length of male about 4 inches; wing 2*25; tail 1*7; bill *35 ; tarse *6. |