296 



REVIEW OF JAPANESE BIRDS. 



strongly washed with brown; while in the European examples the 

 flanks are pure white or nearly so, and the axillaries, under wing- 

 coverts, and sides of head and neck pale French gray, the latter more 

 or less tinged with vinous. Larger series will be necessary, however, 

 to decide whether there exists any average difference between Japanese 

 and Western s])ecimens.* I should remark that an example from Lower 

 Pegu ( 9 , U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 95930, November 18, 1879) agrees well 

 with the Japanese bird, but is a shade lighter. 



In the synonymy above I have quoted McVeau's "Night Heron, Ardea 

 goisaga,''^ with a query, though I have but little doubt that he really 

 means the i^resent species, for he speaks of it as very common within 

 the city limits of Tokio, and says that he has " seen a })eriect cloud of 

 them rise from a favorite clumj) of trees when disturbed." 



^fea8urements. 



Mr. Jouy's notes relating to the fresh colors of the above specimens 

 are as follows : 



No. 91513. "Iris, carmine; bare skin around eye, dark greenish; bill, dusky; un- 

 der mandible, greenish yellow; tarsus and toes, chrome." 

 No. 91.529. "Iris, orange." 



Nycticorax crassirostris Vigors. 

 Thick-billed Night Herou. 



1833. — ArAea caledonica Kittlitz, Kniifcrtaf., Ill, p. 27, pi. 35, tig. 2 (nee Gmel., 1788). 

 1839. — Xycticorax crassirostris Vigors, Voy., Blossom, Ornith., p. 27. — Boxap., Consp. 



Av., II, p. 140 (1855).— KiTTL., Dcnkw., II, p. 182 {I8b8).—Kijctiardea c. Gkav, 



Hand-1. B., Ill, p. 33 (1871). 

 18G3. — Ardea mamllensis ScHLKGEL, Mus. P. B., Ardese, p. 60 {part). 



Neither Schlegel (7. c.) nor Eeichenow (Journ, f. Orn., 1877, p. 238), 

 who both unite this species with manillensis YiG., seem to have seen 

 specimens from the Bonin Islands. Gray, having specimens of both 

 forms in the British Museum, gives them as distinct, and so does Bona- 

 parte, who may have examined specimens too, judging from his descrip- 

 tion as compared with that of Vigors. The name crassirostris, as based 

 upon the Bonin specimen, is therefore retained here, especially since 

 Schlegel's measurements indicate that the Philippine birds have the 



* Since the above was written I have examined a specimen collected by Mr. Namiye 

 on Liu Kiu Island, which in every respect resembles the lighter European exami)les. 



