GARRULAX CHINENSI S .
Chinese Garrulax.
Lanins chinensis, Scop.
Turdus shanhu, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 84.—Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 337.
melanopsis, Gmel. ibid. p. 1829.
Corvns auritus, Daud. Om., 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. o f Birds, vol. i. p. 225, Garrulax, sp. 2.
— cAtwewsis,'Blyth, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., vol. xiv. p. 598.—Id. Cat. o f Birds in Mus. Asiat. Soc.
Bengal, p. 95.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. 370, Garrulax, sp. 4.—Horsf. and Moore, Cat. of
Birds in Mus. East-Ind. Comp., vol. i. p. 202.—Gray, Hand-list o f Birds, part i. p. 202.—Swinh.
Ibis, 1864, p. 423.—Id. Proc. o f Zool. Soc. for 1871, p. 371.
Le petit Geay de la Chine, Sonn. Voy. aux Ind. Orient. &c., tom. ii.
Le Geai äjoues blanches, Levaill. Hist. Nat. des Ois. de Parad. &c., tom. i. p. 125, pi. 43.
Black-faced Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. ii. p. 37.—Steph. Cont. o f Shaw’s Gen. Zool., vol. x. part i. p. 292.—Lath.
Gen. Hist., vol. v. p;/l|L2.
Shanhu o f the Chinese, Lath.
A f in e example of this interesting bird having lived for two or three seasons in the menagerie o f the Zoological
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 o f the above-mentioned Societv 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 o f 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 bis:—“ 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. I t was naturally a fine songster, and a most universal
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 Kitta venatoria and sometimes even by Mynahs); and when a bee or wasp 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 the 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 h e ad ; it afterwards devoured» about half the snake, holding it
by one foot, while it picked it with the bill, which was its common mode o f feeding.”
Mr. Swinhoe, in his Notes on the Birds of China, r e m a r k s “ In the Hong-kong bird-shops I saw in
cages Garrulax chinensis. I have never met with it wild, and therefore fancy its range is south of Canton.”
In his notes from Takow, Formosa, the same gentleman says:—
“ This bird I purchased alive and sent to Dr. Squire for the Society’s Gardens. It seems to range from
the extreme south of China to the Tenasserim Provinces, where Mr. Blyth procured it. I have never met
with this fine species in a state of nature. Its ordinary call is like a corvine croak. I t also emits a loud
note like ‘ hurrah,’ often repeated in a low whistle. It was very lively and noisy.
“ Bill black; legs and claws brown; irides crimson. Forehead, and a short crest at the base of the
culmen, black, a streak o f which colour also encircles the eye, and a patch of the same occurs on the throat and
under the neck ; just in the rear of the frontal crest are a few pointed white feathers; and there is an oval
white patch on each cheek; the general plumage is cinereous; back, wings, and tail olive-brown, darker on
the two latter, with deep-coloured shafts, quills edged with cinereous; blue-grey on the head.”
The Plate represents the bird in two positions, of the size of life. I believe there is no external dif-
fence in the sexes.