414 



BIRDS OF THE LIU KIU ISLANDS. 



foruuihi iu the Yayeyauia specimen beiug as follows: First (ninth) pri- 

 mary equals seventh ; second equals fifth ; third intermediate between 

 second and fourth which is longest. In the Japanese specimens' the 

 wing-formula is as follows : First primary about equals fifth (sometimes 

 longer, sometimes shorter than fifth); second between fifth and fourth 

 which Cipials the third, these two being the longest. 



Additional material will be necessary in order to decide whether the 

 above differences are constant characters of a lottal race, or only an ex- 

 traordinary individual variation. 



The Yayeyama bird which is marked 3 measures as follows : Wing, 

 aS""'"; tail feathers, O"'" ; exposed culnieu, 11'"'"; tarsus, IS'"-" ; middle 

 toe, with claw, 15'»»"\ 



Mr. Pryer [in lift.) remarks that one of his Liu Kiu specimens '^ has 

 a number of brown feathers scattered over its body." 



Passer moutanus saturatus Stkjxkgkr. 



The male specimen wliich Mr. Namiye collected at Xapa, Liu Kiu, 

 March 5, 188G, is by far not so deeply colored as the type of my P. sa- 

 turatus, and seems to show that, if tenable at all, it can t)uly rank as a 

 subspecies. There are traces of the brown edges to the feathers of the 

 lower surface, and the rump is rather richly colored, although closely 

 approached by an October specimen from Canton (U. S. !N'at. Mus., No. 

 96515.) Additional material of autumnal birds will be necessary to clear 

 up the question. 1 should remark, however, that Mr. Pryer, under 

 March 10, 1887, writes me as follows : 



"As I feared Passer saturatus cannot stand ; I have now a long series 

 of the liyu Kyu bird, and they are quite indistinguishable from Jap- 

 anese." 



Mr. Namiye's specimen measures as follows : Wing, GS"^"" ; tail-feath. 

 ers, 52""" ; exposed culmen, 11™'" ; middle toe with claw, 18'"™. Total 

 length, according to Mr. Namiye, IIS™™. 



Catalogue of birds hitherto recorded from the Liu Kin Islands. 



' p. Z. S., 1871, p. 422 : "Breeding on tlie sraall islands northeast of Formosa (CoUingioood)." 



