NOTES ON JAPANESE BIRDS CONTAINED IN THE SCIENCE COL- 

 LEGE MUSEUM, IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY, TOKYO, JAPAN. 



BY 



Leonhard Stejneger, 



Curator of the Departvient of Reptiles and Batrachians. 



Some time ago the Educjitional IMiiseiim of Tokyo was abolished and 

 the collections turned over to the Science College of the Imperial 

 University. Dr. 1. 1 jima, i)rofessor of embryology and comparative anat- 

 omy, volunteered to take care of the ornithological material, and made 

 me the proposition to send the entire collection over in installments for 

 identification and study. I gladly accepted the offer, and avail myself 

 of the present opportunity to publicly express my gratitude for the 

 kindness of Dr. Ijima and the authorities of the Science College. 



The following notes are the result of an examination of the first in- 

 stallment, and contains, as will be seen, quite a number of interesting 

 additions to the Japanese avifauna. 



The collection sent contained a number of additional specimens, but 

 as they added nothing to our knowledge reference to them was con- 

 sidered snportiuous. 



The numbers in parenthesis preceding the names are those of Blak- 

 iston and Pryer's "Birds of Japan." 



(62) Sterna siueusis Gm. 



Two spesimens (Nos. 1363 and 13(14), both from Hitachi, [uobably col- 

 lected with the following. One is a young bird with dusky bill and 

 feet, the other (13<»3) an adult in full plunuige. 



Sterua dougalli Moxtag. 



The claim of this species to a place in the Japanese fauna rests upon 

 a single Sj)ecimen in the I'ryer collection from tiie Liukiu Islands 

 (Seebohm, Ibis, 18S7, p. 181). It is, therefore, interesting to find a 

 specimen from Hitachi in the Science College collection (No. 1302). It 

 is Just com])leting the black hood and is in splendid condition, except 

 that the collector has cut off the wings and sewed on those of a tStenia 

 sinentiis, a combination which at first staggered me, as the job was very 

 neatly done! The bill of this specimen is red, with dusky tips, and 

 not nearly as thick as in Seebohm's figure (B. Jap. Emp., p. 29G). 



[Proceedings Natioiial Museum, Vol. XIV — No. 874.] 



