1B86.J PKOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 121 



if we want to determine whicli form is peculiar to a certain locality, we 

 will have to find out which form breeds there. This is often difficult, 

 because most specimens in museums are autumn or winter birds 

 collected when these birds straggle over the country in all directions. 

 Of all the birds of this genus, which Blakiston collected, only one 

 (Blak. No. 2705, 5 , Sapporo, Yesso, June 23, 1879, Hakod. Mus. No. 755) 

 is a breeding bird, while the others are obtained in September, Octo- 

 ber, and November. Of all the Yungipici collected by Messrs. Jouy and 

 Smith, three only were breeding birds, one of which reached our museum 

 (U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 88705, $ , Fuji Yama, Hondo, June 28, 1882), all 

 the rest being collected in October, November, and December. And as 

 in these collections, so is the case probably in most others (Hargitt, Ibis, 

 1882, p. 37, does not give the date of the specimens examined by him). 



Of Blakiston's collection 1 have before me three autumnal birds from 

 Yesso ; of Jouy's there are four autumnal and one breeding bird, all 

 from the Middle Island (Hondo). Finally, my material comprises the 

 specimen of Ringer's collection from Nagasaki (Kiusiu), which caused 

 the separation of Y. Idzuki and seebohmi, and which wife taken to Leyden 

 and compared with the type of Temminck's Y. MzuTci. 



This specimen is neither dated nor sexed ; but 1 take it to be a female, 

 as it has no trace of red at the end of the superciliary streak, and the 

 condition of the plumage leads me to believe that it was collected rather 

 late in winter. It is apparently safe to regard it as typical of the south- 

 ern form. 



The summer specimen from the Middle Island alluded to above may 

 be pronounced nearly identical with the Nagasaki bird. Apart from 

 the presence of the red spot in the former, the only difference consists 

 in a barely appreciably stronger wash of yellow on the lower surface of 

 the southern example ; it may then be remarked that even this differ- 

 ence is probably more apparent than real, since the abrasion of the 

 plumage of the northern bird easily accounts for it, a conclusion war- 

 ranted by the fact that the autumnal birds from the north have the yel- 

 low wash quite pronounced. In the heavy streaking on the lower sur- 

 face ; in the darkness of the brown patches on the sides of the breast, 

 and of the interscapular region ; in the narrowness of the white mark- 

 ings on the lower back and wings; in all these important points the two 

 birds agree so closely, that I have no hesitation in asserting, that the 

 form breeding in the Middle Island, not far from Yokohama, is the true 

 Y. Idzulci of Temmiuck. 



Now, placing the three Yesso birds alongside the typical Kiusiu 

 bird a great difference is at once appreciable. Notwithstanding their 

 having a fresher plumage, the brown on top of head, hind neck, and 

 interscapulars is much paler, as if suffused with ashy; the white cross- 

 bauds on back and wings are purer and considerably broader; the 

 outer tail-feathers, instead of being black with white cross-bars, are 



