""^Vl!"'] PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 493 



Phaethon caudidus (Dkap. )• 



Another addition to tlie fiuiiiii. A young specimen of this species 

 (also known as /'/«. JlaiHronfris) is in ]\Ir. Ota's collection (No. "AA"), 

 and was collected in the province of Kaga, on the Sea of Japan. 



In the handbooks the three species of this genus are distinguished 

 by characters somewhat dilUcult to grasp and apply. I have found 

 a set of characters easy to recognize, by whiwh the three species can 

 be distinguished without the slightest ditlioulty in all their plumages, 

 as follows : 



o'. Outer web of outer ])riinari(',s white Ph. ruhricatida. 



a-. Outer web of outer priiuarios l)Iack. 



&'. Outer primary coverts white J'li. candidiia. 



b^. Outer primary coverts black Ph. wthereus, 



Ardea purpurea L. 



In my review of the Japanese Herodii (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1887 

 pp.310, 311), 1 gave the characters of the present bird, "there being a 

 l)robability that the Purple Heron may occasionallj'^ occur in Japanese 

 territory." I am now gratified by having before me a fine adult male, 

 collected by Mr. Nishi on the Yayeyama Island, April, 1889. 



A careful comparison of this specimen (Sc. Coll. Mus. No. 1109) with 

 the material discussed in the above mentioned paper only corroborates 

 the distinction there pointed out between the eastern and the western 

 birds in so far as the Yayeyama bird has the median series of black 

 spots on the fore-neck but slightly developed; at the same time the 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts are as black as in the Pegu bird. As 

 for size it comi>ares well with the largest of the European birds. The 

 difterences may turn out to be of some consequence, but the material 

 is eutirel}' too scanty to even allow the expression of a preliminary 

 opinion. The Japanese individual presents the peculiarity of the me- 

 dian stripe on the upper liind neck being brown, not black. 



Dr. Ijima writes me as follows : 



Another specimen in our collection is much grayer above and darker below, there 

 being less brown. Mr. Nishi tells me that it is abundant on Yayeyama Island. 



In the paper referred to I characterized the genus Ardea as having 

 the " naked portion of tibia longer than inner toe, without claw." This 

 is certainly not the case in the present species and the synopsis {op. cit. 

 p. 287) will have to be remodeled.* 



(1C5) Cuculus kelungensis Swinh. 



Four adults and one young bird from various i)laces in Hondo. 

 Our knowledge of the eastern cuckoos is as yet only very imperfect, 



* Mr. J. H. Gurney, jr., writes to Mr. R. Ridgway that among his father's Peregrine 

 Falcons he found two specimens from the Knrile Islands, which are young birds and 

 very dark all over, especially on the breast, belly, and under the wings. "They are 

 far the darkest we have, and are evidently your I'alco peahi." This is a very inter- 

 esting addition to the fauna. 



