278 REVIEW OF JAPANESE T.IRDvS. 



queutly imuiatuie bird, the alleged restriction of the naked space on 

 the throat mijjht easily be accounted for. 1 have, however, by the 

 courtesy of Mr. J. A. Allen, had the opportunity of comparing my 

 eastern young birds with a slightly younger specimen from Frauce, 

 uow in the American Museum, New York, (Plate X, fig. 1), and even at 

 this age the European bird is characterized by the greater extent of 

 the naked space, and I have reasons for believing that this naked space 

 is smaller also in the adult birds, and that the character, therefore, 

 will hold. Mr. P. L. Jouy has kindly furnished me with an accurate 

 sketch, natural size, of the bill and throat of No. 761, Tokio Educational 

 Z^Iuseum, a fully adult female with crest, entirely white primaries, and 

 corrugations at the base of the lower mandible (Plate X, fig. 2). In this 

 bird the denudation extends only 54°^^" down the throat, ending in a blunt 

 point, a distance considerably less, I believe, than the corresponding 

 space in the European bird. 



According to Schlegel, Professor SundevalPhas pointed out that the 

 lim of the upper mandible between the nasal groove and the edge is 

 broader in the Japanese form than in the European, but Schlegel him- 

 self regards this character as neither " assez sensible" nor "constant.'' 

 Whether this character is absolutely constant I cannot say, but my 

 specimens bear out the distinctions made by Sundevall, ibr in the two 

 eastern immature birds the greatest width of the rim measures 4.2 to 

 4_9mm against S.S'"'^ in the fully adult European specimen, and 2.5'"'" in 

 the young of the year ( Amer. Mus., X. Y.), a difference which is " assez 



sensible." 



My material also seems to indicate that the eastern birds have the 

 upper mandible proportionably more widened at the tip than the west- 

 ern ones, as evidenced by the measurements contained in the tables 

 below. I therefore consider myself justified in regarding the Japanese 

 form as separable, characterized by the restriction of the naked gular 

 space, the broader rim to the upper mandible, and the greater width of 

 the " spatule". 



It is, however, very desirable that the ornithologists residing in Japan 

 should do all in their power to settle the question beyond doubt, to that 

 end collecting series of old birds and observing the changes which take 

 place in the Japanese species in the different stages of its growth. In 

 order to facilitate their work I shall give a short abstract of Xaumann's 

 account of these changes in the European true P. leucoroiUa, which will 

 afford material for comparison. 



The downy young is white, with nearl.\- the whole face and throat 

 naked ; iris ]>earl-white ; bill and feet light plumbeous. 



The young in the Jirst 2)lf(mage is white with black shafts to the quills, 

 and with the outer primaries more or less marked with <lusky towards 

 the tips; hardly a trace of crest yet ; iris light grayish blue; bill smooth 

 above, flesh-colored near the forehead and the entire under side, reddish 



