1886.] PEOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 103 



1850. — Yimx jajjonica Bon APATiTK, Consp. Av., i, p. ]12. — Swinhoe, Ihis, 1874, p. 162. — 

 Blak. & Pryer, Ibis, 1878, ]>. 229.— lid., Tr. As. Soc. Jap., viii, 1880. p. 

 209.— 7(d., ihid., x, 1882, p. 136. 



1«55. — Jijnx major Brehm, Naumaniiia, 1855, p. 274. 



1866. — Jynx torquilla forma septemtriovaUs Sundevall, Cousp. Piciu.,p. 108. 



1866. — fjynx torquilla forma meridionalis Sundevall, Consp. Picin., p. 108. 



Bouaparte originally separated the Japanese Wryneck, as Yunx ja- 

 ponica (Consp. Av., i, p. 112), from the western J. torquilla, on account 

 of its alleged much smaller size and lighter colors. Swinhoe also insists 

 that the eastern bird is smaller (P. Z. S., 1863, p. 2C7; 1871, p. 393; 

 Ibis, 1874, p. IGl'). Sundevall, on the other hand, says that the Japan- 

 ese specimen in the Leyden Museum (the type of Bonaparte'?) appar- 

 ently differs in no respect from a. German specimen, but he divides the 

 species in two "forms," a northern and a southern one, those breeding 

 in the north being apparently paler and less yellowish than those pass- 

 ing the summer in the south. 



The material at my disjjosal is too scanty to allow of any sure conclu- 

 sions, and I very much regret that our museum possesses no specimen 

 of this common bird from Japan. 1 am especially unable to decide as to 

 the size of the eastern bird. According to Captain Blakiston's MS. 

 notes, all che five specimens which he collected in Yesso (males and 

 females, in April and May) had the wing 80™™ long, a measurement 

 considerably smaller than the average of European birds as given be- 

 low, viz, 85™™, and still more so if he when measuring flattened the wing 

 by pressing it against the scale; but a specimen from Canton, on the 

 other hand (cf. table below), agrees in size pretty well with the western 

 examples. 



As to the alleged deeper coloration of the southern specimens my 

 series tends to corroborate Sundevall's view, but inasmuch as the 

 data concerning localities and dates of my specimens are vague or en- 

 tirely missing, the evidence is quite unsatisfactory. The four last birds 

 of the series measured below are suffused with a much stronger wasli 

 of yellow, which makes them separable from the rest at the first glance, 

 but the measurements are practically identical with those of the pale 

 birds. 



Judging from Bonaparte's original description and Sundevall's re- 

 marks, quoted above, the Japanese bird belongs to the paler form, which 

 is the typical J. torquilla. The Wryneck is known to breed in Yesso, 

 and is also recorded as inhabiting Hondo and Kiusiu, but whether 

 breeding in the latter I think is rather doubtful. Of course, the ex- 

 istence of the pale specimens from Nagasaki may prove nothing bej;oud 

 the fact that this form migrates through Nagasaki on its way.-, 

 ward or northward. But if the Wryneck breed in Southern JapaiiJ 

 if the dark form is separable as J. torquilla meridionalis, the occurrence 

 of the latter in Kiusiu would not be surpr^lfng. This .only as a ques- 

 tion and asuggestion to local ornithologists, and I shall feel much obliged 

 for any material which will throw light on the subject. 



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