PSAROPHOLUS ARDENS, Swina.
Red Oriole.

Psaropholus ardens, Swinh. in Ibis, 1862, p. 363, pl. xili.; 1863, p 293; and 1866, pp. 297 and 398.
——— ——— var. nigellicauda, Swinh. in Ibis, 1870, p. 342.
Analewpus ardens, G. R. Gray, Hand-list of Birds, part i. p. 290.

 

I pee this lovely bird one of the most interesting of Mr. Swinhoe’s many important discoveries, since it is
still more beautiful than its Himalayan ally, the Psaropholus Trailli. Its native habitat is the island of
Formosa and (if the bird he has named Psaropholus ardens, var. nigellicauda, is merely a local variety, as it
is now supposed to be) the island of Hainan. If there is any difference in the size of the three, the
Himalayan P. Zrailli is the largest, the Formosan P. ardens somewhat smaller than that bird, and the
supposed variety from Hainan still a little less in all its admeasurements.

These red-coloured birds from Formosa and Hainan are intensely bright when compared with the
maroon-hued species from the Himalayas, and are thereby distinguishable from it at a glance; while in every
other respect they are very similar.

The following notes respecting the Red Oriole are extracted from Mr. Swinhoe’s “ Notes on the Birds of
the Islands of Formosa and Hainan ” :—

‘¢ This bird is an inhabitant of the mountain-ranges of Formosa, where it frequents the jungly bush of the
exalted valleys, and displays its gaudy tints among the gigantic leafy boughs of the far-famed Laurus
camphora, which towers at intervals among its entangled fellows of the wood. In summer it resorts to the
highest ranges, some of which are perennially covered with snow. In winter it returns to the more
accessible mountains bounding the Chinese territory, merely changing its residence from a lower to a higher
elevation, and vice versd, according to the season. In habits, the Red Oriole nearly approaches its allies of
the Yellow group, and feeds, like them, on berries, chiefly those of figs. Its notes are loud and harsh.

“Tn a trip to the Formosan mountains I put up at a village, and at an early hour strolled up the hill to a
clump of fine trees; on the bare branches of a large Bombaw malabaricum 1 noticed a Psaropholus ardens, its
bright crimson plumage making a lovely contrast with the dull-red flowers of the ees ane the light-green
bursting leaves. I rushed back for a gun, and shot him. He showed still the whitish sunlon ons and
streaks of immaturity; but the great question was solved. I had accepted hearsay evidence that its iris was
red; I now found that it is white, like that of its congener P. Traili. The white is encireled near the
eyelids with a black rim ; the eyelids are lead-colour ; the bill bright French-blue ; tongue yellowish, wtb a
broad bifid black tip. The stomach was full of small figs, either of the banyan or some allied species.
When picked up, the wounded bird screeched just as Yellow Orioles do. ;

« All my specimens were procured near Tamsuy in March and April 1862. ) a

Respecting the bird found in Hainan, and which Mr. Swinhoe named eR nig ellicauda, he says :—

«¢ On the 20th of February, 1868, at Taipingsze, in Central Hainan, I spied : Sey male Red Oriole, and,
after much chasing from one wood to another, at last secured it. On taking it into wy hand, I thought, from
the black hue of its tail, that I had got anew species. Its iris was yellowish EEN EOL A few days later,
on my return to the same place, I was attracted by a bird singing to himself, in loud broken notes, hidden

in the forked branch of a high tree. |
saw a second red male in the jungle at Yulinkan, in South Hainan.
and longer in the tail than the Formosan Psaropholus ardens ;

I watched till I could see him, and brought down a young male. I

; necimens are shorter in the wing
«¢ These specimens are z ee be end ee
and in the full-plumaged example the black of the neck appez : ae :
Cc YL Ss NO . . = ae
“ Male.—Head, neck, wings, and tibial feathers black ; remainder of the plumage of a fine cochineal-red,
ee aus 3

yaler on the tail ; bill light cobalt-blue ; skin round the eye violet-grey; iris white; legs leaden grey ; soles
I Cc IC 9 ¢
and claws dingy.

«The female has the head, sides, and back of the nec :
pper tail-coverts 3. the under tail-coverts are also scarlet; two central

k black ; wings very dark brown ; back reddish cin-

broadly striated with black and dull white ; bill, legs, and feet as in the male, but not so vivid.”
roa rie

: ; the sexes, of the natural size.
The Plate represents the two sexes,