PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 215 



specimen is of about the same size as grylle. Beuicken and Faber ex- 

 pressly say that their type was larger, but as no measurements of wing^ 

 and tail are given, we have no means of verifying their statements, 

 which may i>ossibly be due to overstuffing of the specimen. The only 

 measurements of which we can make use are those of the bill and 

 tarsus as given by Benicken. 



To facilitate the comparison, the measurements are combined into & 

 synoptical table, including Benicken's measurements as given above, 

 the average dimensions of 7 old C. (jrylle in the black summer-i)lumage, 

 and the dimensions of the bill of a head of G. carlo, from Japan (U. S. 

 Xat. Mus., Xo. 21270). 



Comparatire table of measurements. 



Si)ecies. 



Bill from tip 

 to fore bor- 

 der of— 



Xoe- iNasal 

 trils. crroove. 



mm. mm. mm. mm. ' mm. 



C. motzfeldi Benicken's specimen 42 54 *24 i 36 



G. carb'ii U. S. National ilnseum Xo. 21270 43 56 32' 27' (t) 



C. grylle Averajje of C adults in National Moseam 31 46 24 19 32 



* Beuicken savs: '■ Length of bill from the nostrils" (Lan^e des Schnabels von den Nasenloch.). but 

 as 24""" is dispropoi-tioDate to ihe other dimensions of the bill, as given hy him. 1 suppose that h& 

 measured from ihe anterior border of the nasal groove : or •■ 1 inch "' mar perhaps bo a mi^prin- 



>pnnt. 

 T V. Schrenck's measurements of the tarsus of three individuals of this species amounts to So""" (Eels. 

 Amurl I. p. 497: V'.4h"'j. 



It seems apparent from the table, that Benicken's specimen cannot 

 have been merely an individual color variety of C. grylle, as the differ- 

 ences in the size of the bill and tarsus are too great and far beyond 

 the limits of individual variation of the latter species. On the other 

 hand, the aa;reement with C. carlo in regard to size is verv strikins:. 

 and if the British Museum specimen agrees with Beuickeu's type in this 

 point, its reference to C: carbo is easily explained. It is true that Pro- 

 fessor Xewton does not mention this, but it seems as if he had not the 

 specimen before him when writing his Xotes on the Birds of Spitzbergen^ 

 or he would hardly have railed to give a more explicit description of 

 the bird in question. 



To regard Benicken's bird as a melauistic stage is hardly defensible 

 in the view of his description of the color: "entire plumage sooty black, 

 on the abdomen shading someirhat into grayish.''' We have already re- 

 marked that Faber's description of the color as "reddish brown" is not 

 to be relied upon : bur it can hardly fail that the plumage had a brownish 

 hue, or this careful observer would not have made so egregious a mistake. 

 It also argues greatly against the probability of melanism as the true 

 explanation that so many individuals have been observed : two are iu 

 museums, three were seen — one of which was collected — by Kumlieu,. 

 one observed by Holbcill, not to speak of those mentioned by Faber 

 as breeding at Drango. It is very suggestive that all these are reported 

 from Greenland and Iceland, and none from Europe or Spitzbergen. 



