292 



REVIEW OF JAPANESE BIRDS. 



did ! And may it not be that females in that plumage are more com- 

 mon than perhaps supposed f In regard to the American A. exilis, on 

 the other hand, there seems to be no doubt as to the sexes being dis- 

 similar in somewhat the same manner as the European bird, and 1 am 

 not aware of any record of a female A. exilis in the male garb. In this 

 species, furthermore, the male apparently molts the first year directly 

 from the young plumage (chestnut with pale margins) to the black of 

 the adult, as I have a specimen before me (U. S. Xat. Mus. Xo. 12628), 

 from Washington, D. C, which is still mostly in the first i)lumage, but 

 with the glossy greenish-black feathers protruding on the back. In 

 this species, therefore, the males do not require two years to acquire 

 their full plumage. 



I have added the dimensions of a specimen in the unspotted plumage 

 from the coast of Cochin China, apparently the southernmost record 

 of this species. 



Measurements, 



ARDE^. 



GORSACHIUS BONAP. 



1854. — Gorsakius Bonaparte, Ann. Sc. Nat., 4 ser., I, ii, p. 141 (nomen nudum). 



1855. — Goraachius "Pucherau" Bonaparte, Consj). Av., II, p. 138 (type A, goisaki 



Temm.). 

 1855. — Goiaakiua Gray, Cat. Gen. B., p. 114 (emend.). 

 1871. — Goisachius Swinhoe, P. Z. S., 1871, p. 413 (emend.). 

 1877. — Butio Reicuenow, Journ. f. Orn., 1877, p. 246 (same type). 



(129.) Gorsachius goisagi (Temm.). 



Japan Tiger Bittern. Miso-goi. 



1835. — Nycticorax goisayi Temminck, PL Color., V, livr. 78, pi. 582. — Ardea g. Temm. 

 & Schleg., Fauna Jap. Aves, p. 116, pi. Ixx (1849.)— Blakiston, Ibis, 

 1862, p. 331.— &orsac/i(«8 g. Blyth, Ibis, 1865, p. 38. — Bl'TTIKOFER, Notes- 

 Leyd. Mus. IX, 1887, p. 84. — Butio goisagi Cabanis, Journ. f. Oru., 1881, p. 

 425. 



1855. — Goraachius goisaki Bonaparte, Consp. Av., II, p. 138 (jjart). 



1871. — Nyctiardea melanolophos Gray, Hand-1. B., Ill, p. 33 (nee Raffles). — Goisachius 

 melanolophua Blakist. & Pryer, Ibis, 1878, p. 223. — lid., Tr. As. Soc. Jap., 

 VIII, 1880, p. Wd.—Iid., ibid., X, 1882, p. 118.— Blakiston, Amend. List 

 B. Jap., pp. 24, 40 (1884).— Seebohm, Ibis, 1884, p. 176 



