1887.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 301 



way's " slate black " (Nonieiicl. Colors, pi. ii, f. 2). I was at first led to- 

 believe that the uorthern birds might be identical with those iDhabiting 

 the islands of the Bay of Bengal, but Hume (Str. Feath., II, p. 305) 

 describes " the adult in full breeding plumage" from these localities as 

 being " everywhere of a deep blackish slate color; the feathers of the 

 head almost black." This agrees very well with the coloration of the 

 Polynesian examples, which on the whole are darker and less plumbeous 

 than the Japanese ones. I have therefore been obliged to give a new 

 name* to the northern form, and in doing so I dedicate it to Mr. Fred- 

 erick Einger, of Nagasaki, who collected this si)ecies on Goto Island, 

 and to whom we are indebted for some of the most interesting additions 

 to the avifauna of Southern Japan. 



I abstain here from giving a detailed description of this bird in the 

 present connection, as such a one may be expected in Mr. Jouy's forth- 

 coming report on the birds collected by him in the East. 



I may mention, however, that the scapular plumes which are very 

 well developed in three of the Tsu-shima birds appear to have the webs 

 more compact and less disintegrated than the Polynesian specimens. 



I. — Measurements of Demiegretta ringeri. 



* The synonymy of true Dcmief/retta jugularis may be given as follows : 

 1788.— (?) Ardea sacra Gimelin, S. N., I, ii, p. 640. 

 1827. — Ardea jutjularis Wagler, Syst. Av., p. 214, n. 18. 



1843. — Herodias matooh Gray, App. Dieffenb. Nov. Zeal., II (p. 196) {nee Vieill.). 

 1846. — Demiegretta concolor 15lyth, Jouru. As. Soc. Bengal, XV (p. 372). 

 1859. — Ardea {Herodias) ahoUneata Gray, P. Z. S., 1859, p. 166. 

 1861. — Ardea cinerea Ellmax, Zoologist, 1861 (p. 7469) {nee Linn.). 

 1867. — Herodias andamanensis "Tytler," Beavan, Ibis, 1867, p. 333. 

 1874. — Bemi-eyretta sacra Hume, Stray Feath., II, p. 304. 

 1877. — Ardea jug ularis var. conco/or Keichenow, Journ. f. Orn., 1877, p. 262. 



The present species is often given as Demiegretta sacra Gmel., but I am not at all satis- 

 fied that this is the bird described by Latham and named by Gmelin, hence I have 

 only quoted it with a query. 



Vieillot's Ardea matoolc (Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., XIV, 1817, p. 416) is also usually re- 

 ferred to this species, but as he describes it as being " d'un bleu vert-pale," I think 

 it more probable that he meant the bird already described by Latham under the 

 name oi Ardea novce-hollandia:. 



In the same manner I have excluded Syke's Ardea asha, which Hume has referred 

 to Bosc's A. gularis. 



