1887. J PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 289 



Only two species of this genus have been recorded as occurring iu 

 Japan. As another species has been found abundant in Formosa (Ibis, 

 1S63, p. 422), however, I think it proper to inchide the latter in the fol- 

 lowing synopsis, from which it will be seen, that I have found it neces- 

 sary to establish a special group of at least subgeneric value for A. 

 eurhytlima and its allies. 



«i. Tibise feathered nearly to the heel joint ; longest tail-feathers longer than middle 



toe without claw (Ardetta) A. sinensis. 



a-. TibiiB naked at the lower end ; longest tail-feathers shorter than middle toe with- 

 out claw (Nanxocnus). 



&'. Quills and tail-feathers blackish A. eurhythma. 



h-. Quills and tail-feathers cinnamon-rufous [J. cinnamomea.^'\ 



(131.) Ardetta sinensis (Gmel.). 



Little Yellow Bittern. 



17c3.— .JrfZm sinensis Gmelin, S. N., I, p. Q^'Z.— Ardetta s. Gray, List. Spec. B.Brit. 



Mus., Ill, p. 83 (1844).— Seebohm, Ibis, 1879, p. 27.— Blakist. & Pryer, 



Tr. As. Soc. Jap., VIII, 1880, p. 199.— lid., ibid., X, 188-2, p. 118.— Blakist., 



Amend. List. B. Jap., p. 12 (1884). 

 18:23.— ^?Y/m ?ejnrfa HoRSFiELD, Trans. Lin. Soc, XIII (p. 190). 

 1831. — "Ardea melanophis Cuvier," fide Lesson, Traits d'Oru., p. 57,3. 

 18id.—"Ardea melanotis CuviER,"fide Gray, Gen. B., III., App., p. 25. 

 1851.— "^r(fea metanoptera " Cuvier, fide Pucherax, Kev. Mag. Zool., 1851, p. 375 



(nee Beciist.). 

 1873.—? \_Ardetta'\ pulchra Hume, Stray Feath., I, p. 309. 

 1878. — Ardetta sp. inc. Blakist. & Pryer, Ibis, 1878, p. 223. 



With only one adult Japanese specimen, another from the Philippines, 

 and a third one from China, it is impossible to say with certainty whether 

 the form occurring in Japan is identical with the typical A. sinensis. 



The adult bird from Japan (U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 95972; Wakayama, 

 Kii, Hondo; Coll. Ota) differs from the two other specimens mentioned 

 in several respects : The color of the back is much darker, being a dull 

 Vandyke-brown, while in the other two it is more russet ; the brown of 

 the hind neck is strongly tinged with vinaceous in the latter, of which 

 there is hardly a trace in the Japanese specimen ; this one, moreover, 

 has the upper wing-coverts (except the series covering the cubitus) of a 

 dirty " wood-brown " or grayish clay color, with the series just mentioned 

 forming a uniform and uninterrupted band of dull chestnut along the 

 cubital edge of the wing, while iu the specimens of what I take to be 

 true A. sinensis the majority of the wing-coverts are buff, more or less 

 tinged with ochraceous, and the cubital edge only slightly tinged with 

 the brown of the back near the elbow and the wrist ; in the Japanese 



* llSS.—Ardea cinnamomea Gmelix, S. N., I, p. 643.— Ardetta e. Gray, List. Spec. 

 B. Brit. Mus., Ill, p. 83 (1844).— SwiXH., Ibis, 1863, p. 422. 

 l&2'o.—Ardea nebulosa Horsfield, Trans. Lin. Soc, XIII (p. 190). 

 Eahitat.— From India, including Ceylon, eastward throughout Burmah and China 

 to the Philippines and Formosa, south to Malacca and the Malayan Archipelago. 



The Little Chestnut Bittern is easily recognizable in all ages by the rufous color of 

 the quills and tail-feathers. 



Proc. N. M. 87 19 



