1887.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 393^ 



abraded, but otherwise hardly lighter; they, therefore, agree well with 

 Lichteiisteiu's original description of ;S^. bergii, in which the color is- 

 said to be the same as that of S. anglica. Identical in coloration with 

 the first- mentioned specimen, and of the size of the last mentioned too, 

 is a specimen from New South Wales (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 71684), which 

 I take to be typical IS.peleeanouJeH* 



So far my material agrees with Mr. Saunders's remark (P. Z. S., 1876^, 

 p. 658) that " the types of S. bergii, from the Cape of Good Hope, and of 

 /iS. velox, from the Ked Sea, are identical iu size and color, and are not per- 

 ceptibly lighter in color than '-' S. 'pelecanoides,^'' but judging from his 

 remarks further on, that " from the Cape of Good Hope and from the Red 

 Sea * * * the China Seas, down to Australia * * * we find a uniformly 

 dark mantle and tail," it would seem as if true S. bergii had a dark mantle, 

 though this seems contrary" to Lichtensteiu's original descri2)tion ! What 

 makes me place an exclamation mark here is the fact that the three 

 specimens before me from " the China Seas" are much darker than the 

 above-mentioned African and Australian examples, their mantles and 

 tails beiug " smoke-gray," quite as dark as Ridgway's No. 12, j^l. ii,orfully 

 two shades darker than the bird I am led to consider a typical 8. bergii. 

 These specimens are also somewhat smaller, aud would therefore seem to 

 be entitled to the name S. poUocerca Gould were it not that this appears 

 to be a light-colored bird. (Gould, B. Austr., VII, pi. 24.) It might be 

 nrged that this goes only to show that these birds cannot be separated; 

 but it seems to me that the difference iu color, at least, is too great to be 

 one of individual variation only, and while it may not be expedient to 

 separate the birds specifically, since intergradation seems to occur, a 

 recognition by name of the different races may be permissible. For that 

 purpose I ask: Will anybody kindly inform me what nameproperly be- 

 longs to the smaller dark birds from the China Seas? 



This bird being new to the £auna of Japan, I append the following 

 description of Mr. Nishi's specimen : 



Sad. {Tokio Educational Museum. J.JSfishi coll. Yayeyama Island). — 

 Mantle, rump, and tail, rather dark smoke-gray ; forehead, lores, cheeks, 

 ear-coverts, neck all around, and entire under surface, pure white; 



"^ I would call attention, however, to the short tarsus of the Australian bird as a 

 feature of possible consequence. I present a table of measurements of the specimens 

 mentioned above, remarkiug that the shortness of the tail in No. 71684 is due to abra- 

 sion. 



Museum and Xo. 



U.S. Nat., 111440. 

 TJ.S.lS'at., 111441. 

 U.S. Nat., 103419. 

 U.S.Nat., 71684. 



CoUectorand 

 No. 



Kichanl ... 



...do 



Lavard 



....". 99 



ad., 

 ad., 

 ad., 

 cfad. 



Localitv. 



Inhain'bane.S. Africa. 



...do 



" S. Africa " 



niawarra,N. S.Wales 



Date. 



345 

 350 

 372 

 350 



H I pq 



178 

 193 



182 

 160 



32 

 31 

 33 

 28 ! 



fc 



i3 ^ 



32 



3a. 



34 

 3S; 



