84 Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 



wing coverts and axillars white, faintly washed with pinkish buff at bend 

 of wing; throat white, washed in center with cinnamon-bun* ; superciliary 

 stripe, sides of head and neck dull mikado brown, this color merging into 

 cinnamon-buff on foreneck, the feathers of sides of neck tipped slightly 

 with pinkish buff; foreneck and upper breast washed with cinnamon- 

 buff, the feathers white basally; sides and flanks cinnamon-buff; lower 

 breast, abdomen and under tail coverts washed with pinkish buff, the 

 bases of the feathers broadly white; outer side of tibia cinnamon-buff, 

 inner side pinkish buff; an area on either side of upper breast with cen- 

 ters of feathers dusky neutral gray, broadly margined with cinnamon- 

 buff, the whole nearly concealed by the elongate feathers extending down 

 from the base of the foreneck ; base of culmen dull brown, distal two- 

 thirds blackish; rest of bill light brown, darker towards tip; tarsus, toes 

 and nails dark dull brown (from dried skin). 



Measurements (in millimeters. — Males (4 specimens) wing 119.5-127.5 

 (123.9), tail 34.5-42 (38.6), exposed culmen 50-55 (51.4), tarsus 43-4(5 

 (44.5). 



Females (2 specimens), wing 123.5-124 (123.7), tail 39.5, exposed cul- 

 men 53-55 (54), tarsus 44-45 (44.5). 



Range. — Specimens examined from Laguna (Paete), Cavite, Ilocos 

 Norte (Panay Lake), Luzon; and Panay, Philippine Islands. 



Remarks. — In coloration this new form comes nearer to Ixubrychus 

 sinensis bryani (Seale) from Guam than to any of the other forms of the 

 Little Yellow Bittern at present known. From Txobrychus s. sinensis 

 from China the present subspecies differs in being darker, more rufescent 

 above, more huffy, less whitish below, and in having the wing coverts 

 much more buffy in color. It needs no comparison with the race occurr- 

 ing in the islands of Japan as that form is distinct from all of the other 

 subspecies of sinensis in its large size and dark coloration. Three adult 

 males of I. s. astrologns, in addition to the characters outlined in the 

 diagnosis above, differ from adult males of bryani in having the greater 

 and middle wing coverts grayer and less buffy. In another adult speci- 

 men examined (Cat. No. 77002), which is marked as coming from the 

 Philippines without more certain locality, these wing coverts are similar 

 in color to those in the birds from Guam. 



I am greatly indebted to Mr. R. C. McGregor of the Bureau of Science 

 in Manila, Philippine Islands, for adult skins of the Philippine form of 

 the Little Yellow Bittern, and for the loan of one specimen in the collec- 

 tions under his charge, from the island of Guam. Without these a satis- 

 factory diagnosis of the bird from the Philippine Islands would not have 

 been possible. 



Though the bitterns when under the observation of man are noted for 

 their pose as star-gazers, it seems that this subterfuge is merely the pre- 

 tense of a sciolist; wherefore it is more fitting to name this present 

 bird 'acrrpoXoyos as the exponent of a false science, rather than 'atrrpovoixos, 

 the proper title for a more sincere student of the stars. 



