1887, J PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 423 



cal distribution. This confusion is especially great in regard to the so- 

 called Rock-doves, since the domestication of one or more of the species, 

 and their subsequent introduction into foreign localities, where they 

 have partlj^ reverted to a semi-feral state, and, possibly, also hybridized 

 with the native species on a more or less extensive scale, in many in- 

 stances has partly obscured the characters of the species as well as the 

 geographical range. To ornithologists of " lumping" propensities, bent 

 upon destroying the labors of their more painstaking colleagues, the 

 difficulties attending the unraveling of this confusion have been ingeni- 

 ously skipped under the plea that all the differences between the al- 

 leged species are due to domestication, and that there is only one valid 

 form, the name of which is Golumba Uvia. 



This process, however, has not settled the question; it has only post- 

 poned the solution. In this, as in so many other cases, the premature 

 "lumping" has done great harm, for had it not been determined by an 

 easy-going majority that the Rock-dove is the same species all over the 

 Eurasian continent, our series of these birds might have been larger, and 

 the solution of the question nearer than it is at present. 



In Japan Columha Uvia is said to occur, but which particular form ? 

 Is it the white-rumped, dark-tailed species which breeds in "Western 

 Euro|)e, and which I think should stand as C. domestica? Or is it 

 the form known to occur in the neighboring regions of the Asiatic 

 mainland, and which by some ornithologists has been called G. rupestris 9 

 Oris it the species which we know has been collected on Great Liu 

 Kiu Island, Strickland's C. intermedia?* Or, may not all three occur? 



My material and the literature accessible to me ^have no answer to 

 these questions beyond establishing the occurrence of C. intermedia in 

 Liu Kiu. There are reasons for believing that the other two forms also 

 occur, and, in order to facilitate identification by those in the field, I 

 present the following " key " : 



r. 1 . • 1 ^ 1 1 1 ^ C. intermedia Ruiui) grav 



Suoteriumal tail-baud jirav w. j <• ■» i fe . 



Subtermiual tail-baud white C. rupestris S ^ ^^nlTe. 



The following synonymies do not pretend to be complete, nor is it cer 

 tain that tlie white-rumped, dark-tailed birds occurring in Japan are 

 absolutely identical with European G. domestica {Uvia). All I know in 

 regard to these birds is what Schlegel says about Japanese specimens in 

 the Leiden Museum, taking the specimens of "teintes ordinaires" to 

 mean white-rumped, dark-tailed ones. In order to bring all the availa- 

 ble material together I reprint his remarks, which are as follows : 



Individus dn Japon. — 14. Adulte, voyage de M. von Siebold : teintes ordinaires. — 

 15. Adulte, von Siebold : serablablo au No. 14, luais av-ec des tache? noiratres isol^es 

 sur le luautean, les scapulaires et, quoi(]ue eu petit nombre, ^galemeut snr les cou- 



* In regard to this form Mr. Seebohm in the most positive terms informs ns (Ibis, 

 1887, p. 182), that it is '* a more or less domesticated pigeon, introduced in prehistoric 

 times," a supposition entirely unsupported by any facts so far as the Liu Kiu Islands 

 are concerned. 



