HYPSIPETES NIGERRIMA, Gow.

Formosan Hypsipetes.

Hypsipetes nigerrima, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 282,
——— nigerrimus, Swinh. in Ibis, 1863, p. 287.

 

Tue only additional remark I have to make in connexion with this interesting species, beyond those given
below from the pen of Mr. Swinhoe (who enjoyed opportunities for observing the bird in a state of nature),
is that all the members of the genus LHypsipetes, of which the H. psaroides may be regarded as the type,
are denizens of Asia, and that the sexes of all of them do not exhibit any marked difference in their
colouring, neither do they vary materially in size.

‘The nearest allies of this species,” says Mr. Swinhoe, “are the H. psaroides, Vigors, from Nepaul, and
the H. ganeesa, Sykes, from Assam, both of which are of blackish-grey plumage, and both have, like it, red
bills and legs. I know no similar species from China. The only bird of this genus I have seen from the
hills of southern China is a green species (my H. Holti), very closely allied to H. Maclellandi, Horsf., from
Bootan and Nepaul. The Formosan bird is at once distinguishable from its Nepaulese cousins by its much
blacker colourmg; hence the appropriate name suggested by Mr. Gould. This species is found in all the
wooded parts of the interior mountain-range, feeding largely on berries and the small figs of the numerous
species of Jez that abound, including those of the Chinese Banyan (/. nitida). Insects, chiefly small Coleo-
ptera, also form part of its subsistence. In winter it rambles about the high country in small parties, and
may be found at all altitudes clothed with forests. In the spring these parties disperse for the purpose of
nidification, and at this season a few pairs may be found in the better-wooded portions of the low country.

‘On my trip into the interior, in the latter half of April, I observed one of these birds in an orchard com-
posed of venerable moss- and fern-covered trees. It perched on the highest twigs, and gave utterance to its
song, which consisted of notes resembling ‘ sewee-swee-swee,’ repeated loudly and in quick succession. There
was not much melody in them. When it observed me, it flew to a further tree, whence finally I shot it.

‘The Hypsipetes are longer-winged and smarter in flight than the Pycnonotide, but, as regards general
habits, are closer in their affinities to them than to any other group.

“General plumage black, shot with dark green, especially on the upper surface ; wings and tail edged with
bluish or charcoal smoke-grey; eyelid black ; irides deep chestnut ; bill and legs brilliant coral-red ; sole-
pads and bases of claws dingy ochreous ; claws black ; inside of the mouth and tongue orange-red.

‘‘In many of the specimens the feathers of the belly, axillaries, rump, and vent are margined with bluish
grey.

‘‘ The sexes are alike; but the female has somewhat shorter wing's.

‘In the young birds the plumage is much browner, and the feathers of the under parts margined and
tipped with greyish white. All my specimens were obtained in the spring of 1862; but many of them still
retain markings of the immature plumage, thereby showing that the autumnal moult is not a complete trans-
formation of the young into the mature plumage. In the adult, the wings are brownish black, the quills,
especially the secondaries, being broadly margined with bluish grey; the wing-coverts are also black, but less
distinctly margined. The tail is brownish black, all the feathers, except the outermost, being margined ex-
teriorly, for the greater part of their length, with bluish grey. The feathers of the crown are long and lan-
ceolate.”

The figures are of the size of life.