^76 PvEYIEW OF JAPANESE BIRDS. 



solve the mystery completely. I. therefore, cau do nothing better than 

 state the case in all its details and point out as distinctly as possible 

 the different questions at issue. 



To begin with the beginiiing, Schlegel (and Temminck ■?)? i" the 

 " Fauna Japonica," described two Japanese specimens, collected by Dr. 

 Burger, as P. major and P. »ii)wr. Both were young birds (both de- 

 scribed as "male de Faunee'') chietiy distinguished inter ae by their size, 

 and from the European P. leucorodia by the naked portion of the 

 throat being less extensive. Schlegel himself, afterwards (Mus. P.-Bas, 

 Cicon., p. 21) united the two Japanese specimens under the common 

 heading of P. major, evidently influenced by having obtained from 

 Swinhoe a specimen, likewise '• individu de I'aunee," killed at Swatow, 

 China, which in dimensions is nearly intermediate between the two 

 types of P. major and minor, and possibly also by Swinhoe's remarks 

 in the Ibis for 18G4:, to which we shall return later on. But he still 

 maintains the distinctness of the eastern species, and characterizes it 

 as " tres semblable a la Platalea leucorodia ; mais a la partie posterieure 

 de la gorge emplum(5e et a bee brunatre." I may here remark, by the 

 way, that for comparison he had, according to his catalogue, 6 young 

 birds "de I'annc^e" of P. leucorodia. 



This view was accepted by nearly everybody until Mr. Seebohm, in 

 1882, suggested the identity of the Japanese (and the Formosan) birds 

 with the true P. leucorodia. Upon receiving an adult male, collected by 

 Captain Blakiston at Hakodadi in April, 1879, he positively asserts 

 (Brit. B. Eggs, II, p. 515, foot-note) that it "belongs to the European 

 species, of which Platalea major of Temminck is undoubtedly a young 

 bird." Unfortunately, no further details in regard to this specimen are 

 given. At the same time he recognized P. minor as a second Japanese 

 species, as will be seen from the following quotation : "In a paper on the 

 ornithology of Japan ('Ibis,' 1882, p. 370) I made the mistake of iden- 

 tifying Swiuhoe's examples from Formosa with this species (P. leuco- 

 rodia). They belong undoubtedly to P. ??iinor of Temminck, which species 

 is founded on immature examples of the previously described P. rcgia 

 from Australia. This species differs from our bird (leucorodia) in being 

 slightly smaller, in having the bare space on the forehead and sides of 

 the head extending to the eye, and in having the gular pouch feathered 

 to the base of the lower mandible, beyond which the chin is black. 

 The signs of immaturity are the same as iu the Common SpoonbilK" 

 These are all the details given, and we are not informed if the above 

 conclusion is based on a study of the type specimen of P. minor from 

 Japan, and if the latter has been compared carefully with undoubted 

 specimens of P. regia iu corresponding plumage. We may, by the way, 

 point out one error in the above statement, viz, that P. regia differs 

 from P. leucorodia " in having the gular pouch feathered to the base of 

 the lower mandible," for in the specimen before us the gular pouch is 

 naked for a distance of over 40°*'" from the base of the lower mandible 



