398 ISLAND LIFE 



Japan as regards birds ; for there are also thrushes, robins, 

 stonechats, wrens, hedge-sparrows, sedge -warblers, jays, 

 starlings, swifts, goatsuckers, and some others, which, 

 though distinct sjjccics from our own, have the same 

 general apjDearance, and give a familiar aspect to the 

 ornithology. There remains, however, a considerable body 

 of Chinese and Siberian species, which link the islands to 

 the neighbouring parts of the continent ; and there are 

 also a few which are Malayan or Himalaj^an rather than 

 Chinese, and thus afford us an interesting problem in 

 distribution. 



The seventeen species and sub-species which are 

 altogether peculiar to Japan proper, are for the most -part 

 allied to birds of North China and Siberia, but three are 

 decidedly tropical, and one of them — a fruit pigeon {Trcroii 

 sicholcU) — has no close ally nearer than Burmah and the 

 Himalayas. In tbe following list the affinities of the species 

 are indicated wherever they have been ascertained : — 



List of the Species of Land Birds peculiar to Japan. 



1. Accentor riibidus. Nearlj^ allied to our hedge-sparrow, and less closely 



to the Central Asian A. immaculatus. 

 (la. Ky'psi'pctcs amaurotis. IMigrates to the Corea, otherwise peculiar. ) 



2. Zosterops japonica. Allied to two Chinese species. 



3. Lusciniola pryei^i. 



4. Garrulus japonicus. Allied to the Siberian and British Jays. 



5. Fringilla Jcaivarahiha. Allied to the Chinese greenfinch. 



6. Emhcriza ciopsis. Allied to the E. Siberian bunting E. cioides, of which 



it may be considered a sub-species. 



7. Emhcriza yessoensis. A distinct species. 



8. ,, personata. A snh-'ij^ecies oi E. s2)odoeephala. 



9. Gccinus aiookcra. A distinct species of green woodpecker. 



10. Picus namiyci. Allied to a Formosan species. 



11. Trcron sicholdi. Allied to T. sphenura of the Himalayas, and to a 



Formosan species. 



12. Garpophaga iaiithina, A distinct species of fruit-pigeon. 



13. Bubo blakistoni. Allied to a Philippine eagle-owl. 



14. Scops semitorgucs. A distinct species. 



15. Phasianus versicolor. A distinct species. 



16. ,, siemmcringi. A distinct species. 



17. ,, scintillaus. A sub-species of the last. 



The large number of seventeen peculiar species in the out- 

 lying Bonin and Loo Choo Islands is an interesting feature 

 of Japanese ornithology. The comparative remoteness of 



