PARADOXORNIS HEUDEI, a . David.
Père Heude’s Paradoxornis.
Paradoxomis Heudei, David, Comptes Rendus, Ixxiv. p. 1449.—Id. Rev. Zool. 1872, p. 359; J. Yerr. N. Arch.
Mus. ix. Bull. pl. 4. fig. 2.
F rom a very early period of my ornithological career I have always been led to expect to see a true
Calamophilus from Eastern Asia; but up to the present time this has never turned up. On the other hand,
anew and highly interesting sedge-loving bird has lately been described by Pére David,and skins forwarded
to this country for Mr. Swinhoe’s collection. I herewith offer my best thanks to the last-named gentleman
for the loan of these specimens, and am sure that the birds now figured will be full of interest to the ornithological
public. In colour, general markings, and softness o f plumage the present bird is almost similar to
our own Reedling; and it is principally in its larger size and Paradoxornis-Uke bill that the greatest differences
are observable.
The following is an extract from the original account of the species by Pére David: “ Pére Heude a
missionary at Shanghai, actively busies himself with studying and collecting the natural productions of the
province in which he resides. Among the birds shown to me by him during a recent visit to th at town, are
several not yet included in the ornithological catalogues o f Chinese birds. I now refer specially to a very
interesting form belonging to that curious group of insectivorous birds which is represented in Eastern Asia
by the genera Conostoma, Cholornis, Paradoxornis, and Suthora. The bird I allude to appears to me to be
intermediate between these last two genera, and might perhaps constitute the type o f a new one. I range it
provisionally with the genus Paradoxornis, of which it exhibits the most important characters. Pére Heude
having permitted me to take a description of the bird, which is unique in his collection, I hasten to transmit
it, feeling that it is at the same time my duty to dedicate this new species to him by the name of Paradoxornis
Heudei”
My kind friend Consul Swinhoe has also comunicated the following extract from a letter received from
Pére Heude, and dated “ Sikaiwei, Sept. 29th, 1873.” He writes:—“ The Kiang-Sou Paradoxornis frequents
the large reeds. When they are cut down it takes refuge in those which are kept in a reserve-store in the
enclosures of gardens & c.; I have not seen it on bushes. It extends, to my knowledge, the length of the
Yang-tsze river from Kin-Kiang to Nanking and Kew-Kiang, on the edge of the great lake Hang-tse. It
flies in company, like its near ally Suthora, making a great noise when climbing up the dry reed-stalks, which
it attacks vigorously from the bottom, examining each stalk to its top, and then passing on to another. Its
song is a warbling ‘ re-ri-ri,’ sonorous and melancholy. When one is fully accustomed to the note it can be
distinguished from afar, the birds calling to one another without ceasing. They are very easily approached,
and are not wild. Length of male O'19 mill., o f female (H 6 mill. Iris rosy red. These dimensions
are extreme; and there are slight differences between these limits.”
The accompanying descriptions are from Mr. Swinhoe’s specimens.
Adult male.—Head and hind neck grey, gradually assuming a lilac shade on the interscapulary region as
i t passes off into the chestnut back, the upper p art o f which is slightly streaked with dark brown; on each
side of the crown a narrow line of black extending down the sides o f the n eck; lores and sides o f face light
greyish white; throat white; fore neck whitish, tinged with lilac; upper breast chestnut-maroon, the rest of
the under surface fulvous fawn-colour, lighter down the middle of the abdomen and under tail-coverts • under
wing-coverts whitish, as also the edge of the wing; upper wing-coverts deep chestnut-maroon; quills sepia-
brown, externally washed with rufous, extending round the tips and some way up the margin of the inner
web, the secondaries margined with whitish buff, the innermost broadly black in the centre, the half o f the
inner web white for its whole length, forming a distinct longitudinal streak down the sides of the back •
rump straw-coloured, the upper tail-coverts p a le r; tail black, with conspicuous white tips to the feathers,
more or less shaded with fawn-colour, the two centre feathers fulvous fawn-colour, deeper on the margins.
Adult female.—More dull-coloured than the male, and with a much smaller bill; all the colours less
intensified, the maroon of the back absent, and the head nearly uniform with the back, having only a very
slight tinge of grey.
Both sexes are represented in the Plate, and are life-size.