GARRULAX CHINENSIS.

Chinese Garrulax.

Lanius chinensis, Scop.

Turdus shanhu, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i.
—— melanopsis, Gmel. ibid. p. 1829.

Corvus auritus, Daud. Orn., tom. ii. p. 250.—Swinh. in Ibis, 1865, p. 350.
Crateropus leucogenys, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xi. p. 180.
Garrulax shanhu, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 225,

p. 84.—Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 337.

tin oe Garrulax, sp. 2.
———— chinensis, Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xiv. p: 698.—~Id. Cat. of Hades in Mus. Asiat. Soe.
Bengal, p. 95.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 370, Garrulaz, sp. 4.—Horsf. and Moore, Cat. of

Birds in Mus. East-Ind. Comp., vol. i. p. 202.—Gray, Hand-list of Birds, part i. p. 202.—Swinh.
Ibis, 1864, p. 423.—Id. Proc. of Zool. Soc. for 1871, p. 371;

Le petit Geay de la Chine, Sonn. Voy. aux Ind. Orient. &c., tom. ii.
Le Geai & joues blanches, Levaill. Hist. Nat. des Ois. de Parad. &c., tom. i. p. 125, pl. 43.

Black-faced Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. ii. p. 37.—Steph. Cont. of Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. x. part i. p. 292.—Lath.
Gen. Hist., vol. v. p. 112.

Shanhu of the Chinese, Lath.

 

A rive example of this interesting bird having lived for two or three seasons in the menagerie of the Zoo-
logical Society of London, I did not fail to make a drawing of it, such an opportunity of figuring from life
rarely occurring with respect to insessorial birds which are natives of the distant country of China. And here
it will not be out of place to allude to the value of the above-mentioned Society from the interest it affords to
the artist and the naturalist, as well as to the public at large, by furnishing them with opportunities of studying
the habits, so far as they are shown in a state of captivity, of the various animals it may from time to time
possess: to the zoological artist, indeed, it is of incalculable benefit, inasmuch as, however well he may be
able to depict a species from its dried skin, it must of necessity be far better executed from the living object.
The following notice, by Mr. R. W. G. Frith, of a specimen of this bird in confinement is given by Mr. Blyth
in the ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. xii. p. 179 d¢s:—‘* The bird was excessively tame
and familiar, and delighted (like a Cockatoo) in being caressed and tickled by the hand, when it would
spread out its wings and assume very singular attitudes. It was naturally a fine songster, and a most uni-
versal imitator. Whenever chopped meat or other food was put into its cage, it always evinced a propensity
to deposit the bits one by one between the wires (a habit it has in common with the Shrikes, and which is also
strikingly manifested by the Av¢ta venatoria and sometimes even by Mynahs); and when a bee or wanp was
offered, this bird would seize it instantly, and invariably turn its tail round and make the insect sting, this
several times successively, before eating it. A large beetle it would place before it on he ground, and
pierce it with a violent downward stroke of the bill; a small snake (about a foot long) it treated in
like manner, transfixing the centre of the head; it afterwards devoured about Je ue snake, holding it
by one foot, while it picked it with the bill, which was its common mode of feeding. 7 .
Mr. Swinhoe, in his Notes on the Birds of China, remarks :—‘‘In the Hong-kong bird-shops I saw in

ith it wild, < its range is south of Canton.”
cages Garrulaw chinensis. 1 have never met with it wild, and therefore fancy its rang

In his notes from Takow, Formosa, the same gentleman says :— ; :
: ‘ : aus . i : Ds. t seems to range trom
‘© This bird I purchased alive and sent to Dr. Squire for the Society's Garde g

the extreme south of China to the Tenasserim Provinces, where Mr. Blyth procured it. I have never met

: ie Iso emits a loud
with this fine species in a state of nature. Its ordinary call is like a corvine croak. It a

note like ‘hurrah,’ often repeated in a low whistle. It was very lively and a cage tee
“Bill black; legs and claws brown ; irides crimson. Forehead, and a s of crest a : ae

culmen, black, a streak of which colour also encircles the eye, and a patch of the same occurs 7 1e roa . :

under the neck ; just in the rear of the frontal crest ue a few pointed — ae es oes

white patch on each cheek ; the general plumage is cinereous 5 back, wings, and tal ae ,

the two latter, with deep-coloured shafts, quills edged with ee ge = i =. ee
The Plate represents the bird in two positions, ee —

fence in the sexes.