392 BIRDS OF THE LIU KIU ISLANDS. 



sensteiu's map) there are two promontories, the names of which nearly 

 coincide with tliat of the group, viz, Yayeno Saki and Yayeme Saki, 

 and this is possibly the Yayeyama Island 2)*^^' excellence. In order to 

 better illustrate the position of the several islands between Formosa 

 and Japan i)roper, I have appended a sketch map of the region (Plate 

 xxi). 



AVhen a short time ago I submitted a " List of the Birds hitherto re- 

 ported as occurring on the Liu Kiu Islands" to the " Zeitschrift fiir die 

 Gesammte Ornithologie," I could enumerate only 63 species. With the 

 additions recorded in the present paper the total number of species is 

 swelled to 77, and it cannot be doubted that future researches in these 

 islands will add materially to this number. 



So far the Liu Kiu Islands have contributed about 20 species (and sub- 

 species) additional to the Japanese avifauna, of which about 12 are re- 

 cently described as new. Of the 77 species known to occur there, many 

 of which are water birds or winter migrants, no less than 12 species are 

 peculiar to some or all of the islands. 



In the following paper the measurements are given in millimeters, and 

 the names of the colors used in the descriptions refer to Kidgway's 

 " Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists." 



Sterna fuliginosa Gm. 



This species was not mentioned in my last " list" of the Liu Kiu bird 

 (Zeitschr. Ges. Orn., 1887, pp. — ), as the species was left undetermined 

 in Mr. Namiye's letter. A si)ecimen was collected by Mr. Nishi on Yaye- 

 yama Island. 



Sterna bergii Light., subsp. 



This addition to the Japanese avifauna is duetoMr.Kishi, who brought 

 home a fine specimen from Yayeyama Island. There is nothing unex- 

 pected, however, in this occurrence, for Swinhoe states (Ibis, 1800, p. OS; 

 1803, p. 430) that it breeds on small islands oft* the north coast of For- 

 mosa, and one of his specimens from that locality is also before us for com- 

 parison. 



In following Mr. Saunders's example, calling these birds Sterna bergii, 1 

 do not mean to convey the idea that I regard them as identical with the 

 typical South African form, to which this name properly belongs, but I 

 am forced to abandon the task of deciding whether it should stand as >S. 

 bergii pelecanoides, or IS. bergii poliocerca, or whether it should have a 

 new subspecific name, so conflicting and unsatisfactory are the descrip- 

 tions accessible to me, and so scanty the material at my command. 



It consists of one specimen from " South Africa" (U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 No. 103119, Layard coll.), with the back of a pale drab-gray of about 

 the same shade as liidgway's Gray No. 8 (Nomencl. Colors, plate ii) , two 

 specimens from Inhambane, on the African mainland, opposite the 

 southern end of Madagascar (U. S. Nat. Mus., Nos. 111110 and 111441; 

 Eichard coll.), with the mantle bluer gray, on account of being less 



