402 BIRDS OF THE LIU KIU ISLANDS. 



every detail wi^i the Hakmlate speoimen (U. S. Xat. Mus., Xo. 21086, 

 Mr. Wright coll.) upon which Mr. Eidgway foimded his Falco communis 

 var. orientaUs (Laud B. Xorth Am., iii, j). 128; ex Gmelin). A com- 

 parison of Eastern Asiatic birds with tlie tine series of American spec- 

 imens now in the ]S'atioual Museum seems to indicate, however, that if 

 the former are to be regarded as subspecifically distinct from the typ- 

 ical Euiopeau bird, their i)lace would be with the American^. 2>. anatum 

 rather than forming an independ(;nt subspecies. The two adults from 

 Japan now before me agree most minutely with several American speci- 

 mens (U. S. Nat. :\Ius., No. 19790, Yukou ; No. 3545S , Ft. Anderson ; No. 

 42907, Jamaica), and a Pegu bird, collected by Mr. Gates (No. 95912), 

 is very similar. In further support of this theory I may mention that 

 a young Peregrine, which Mr. Harry V. Henson kindly lent me for ex- 

 amination (Coll. Henson, No. 207 ; 9 juv., Hakodate, Oct. 20, 1882), is of 

 the dark type, fully as dark as the average American bird,* and con- 

 siderably darker than any European Peregrine 1 have seen. It is also 

 worth mentioning that Mr. Robert Ridgway himself has arrived at the 

 same conchision. 



In view of the comparative scantiness of the material and Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney's opposite opinion, so strongly expressed,t I do not feel justified 

 in substituting one uncertainty for another. 



Butastur indicus ? 

 Prycr {in litt.). 



Thalassoaetus pelagicus (Pall.). 



Mr. Pryer kindly informs me that his collector during December, or 

 January, obtained a specimen of this magnificent eagle, which " was 

 caught exhausted in a paddy field and died a few days after." This is 

 the most southern record, so far as I know. 

 Eurystomus orientalis (Lix.). 



The male specimen collected by Mr. Nishi on Yayeyama Island agrees 

 in every particular with Philippine Islands examples. 



"It matches exactly U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 94316, collected by L. M. Turner at Un- 

 gava, Labrador. 



t Ibis 1882, p. 299 : " The Peregrine of Japan, if distinct, would be entitled to the 

 specific name of ^ orienlalis,' Gmelin, ex Latham ; but that it is not distinct from the 

 ordinary /''. peregrmus appears to mo to be certain. Mr. Ridgway, in his summary of 

 snbspecific races of F. pereyritnis, speaks of 'var. orientalis' as being 'beneath pure 

 white, the breast and middle of alidomen without markings,' basing his description 

 on 'two specimens examined from Japan,' but in Japan, as in India, these cliaracters 

 are not constant. An adult specimen from Japan and another from Formosa, both 

 preserved in the Norwich Museum, have the breast and the middle of the abdomen 

 abundantly sprinkled with numerous, though not largo, spots, which, on the abdomen, 

 are mingled, especially in the Japanese example, with imperfect, but very perceptible 

 transverse bars, the general aspect of both specimens corresponding closely with some 

 European and West- Asiatic specimens in adult, and probably rather aged, plumage 

 of the paler type." I may remark, however, that in speaking of subspecific races the 

 question is not whether the ditference is cowstawt, but whether it is sufficiently constant! 

 Cf. Il»is, 1882, p.296 



