406 BIRDS OF THE LIU KlU ISLANDS. 



Melodes calliope i^PALL). 



Mr. Nislii collected a fiue male of the Kaiutscbatkau Xigbtiugale at 

 Yaye.vaina Island. It agrees with Kauitschatkau birds iu every par- 

 ticular. U. S. Xat. Mus., No. 110909. 



Zanthopygia sp. ? 



Miiscicapa sp. ? Stkjxkgkh, Zeitsch. Ges. Oru., 1887, p. — . 



A young Flvcatcher was collected by Mr. Nishi on Yayeyama Island, 

 but, as none of the adult birds were obtained, an exact identification 

 of the species cannot be expected at present, especially since it seems 

 evident that it is not referable to any of the Flycatchers known to 

 occur in Japan or in Formosa. 



In coloration it comes nearest to the young Zanthopygia narcissina, 

 dittering from an authentic male specimen of the latter collected by 

 Mr. r. L. Jouy at Tate Yama, Hondo, October 26, 1882 ( IJ. S. Nat. 

 Mus., No. 01380; Jouy, No. 729), in the following points: 



(1) The ground color of the under parts is ''maize yellow," instead 

 of white suffused with " straw yellow." 



(2) The upper parts very slightly greener and the rump somewhat 

 more yellow. 



(3) The light edges to the tertiaries somewhat duller, and narrower 

 toward the tip, not forming any light terminal spot. 



(4) The light margins to the wing-coverts narrower, the tips of the 

 inner ones being margined with whitish. 



These discrepancies in the coloration of a young bird might, perhaps, 

 be insuflicient to prove specific difference, but there are structural dif- 

 ferences which seem to preclude the possibility of the Yayeyama bird 

 being a Z. narcissina, viz : 



(1) The bill, although of the same size and lateral outline as that of 

 Z. narcissina, is considerably more depressed. 



(2) The wing formula is entirely different. In the first place, the 

 primaries are comparatively shorter, the distance between the tips of 

 the longest primaries and the tips of the longest secondaries being less 

 than the length of the tarsus, while in Z. narcissina the same distance 

 is much longer than the tarsus. The Yayeyama bird, furthermore, has 

 the second i)rimar3" intermediate between sixth and seventh, third 

 nearly equal to fifth, fourth longest ; in Z. narcissina, on the other hand, 

 the second i)rimary is considerably longer than the sixth; third equals 

 fourth, which are the longest, being somewhat longer than fifth. 



The only other Japanese Flycatcher which is greenish in the corre- 

 si)onding plumage is Zanthopygia zanthopygia (or tricolor*), but the 

 white wing spot, yellow rump, and black upper tail-coverts of this 

 species at once obviate the necessity of further comparison. Its wing- 

 formula is also like that of Z. narcissina. 



* Muscicapa zanthopygia Hay, Madr. Joura., xii, nt. 2 (p. 162) (1844). — Muscicapa 

 (Musckapula) tricolor ILvitTLAUB, Revue Zool., 1845,'p. 4UB. — Zanthopyt/ia leucophrys 

 Elvth, Jouru. As. Soc. Bengal, xvi (p. 154) (1847). — Muscicapa hylocharis Tk^im. &, 

 SCHL., Fauua Jap., Aves, p. 44, ])1. xvii (1847). 



