384 REVIEW OF JAPANESE BIRDS. 



(219) Aegithalos trivirgatus (Temin. & Schl.). 

 Japanese Long-tailed Tit. 0-uaga, 



1835. — Farm caudaius Temm., Mau. d'Oru. 2 ed., iii, p. 214 {nee Lix.). 



1849. — Parus irivirgaius Temm. & Schl., Faiiua Jap. Av., (p. 60, pi. xxxiv). — O. 

 trivirgatus SwiNHOE, Ibis, 1874, p. 15(). — AcreduJa trivirgata Blakist. & 

 Fryer, Ibis, 1878, p. 235.— JkZ., Tr. As. Soc. Jap., viii, 1880, p. 218.— lid., 

 iUd., X, 1882, p. 151.— Blakist., Cbrysauth., 1883, Feb., p. — . — JouY, Pr. 

 U.S.Nat. Mus., VI, 1883, p. 285. 



1883. — Acredula rosea a trivirgata Gadow, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., viii, pp. ix + 62. — 

 Blakist., Amend. List B.Jap., p. 50 (1884). 



1884. — Acredula rosea Seebohm, Ibis, 1884, p. 37. 



It is hardly correct to say that " the ouly claim of ^^. trivirgatus to 

 rank as a distinct species rests on the fact that in the majority of skins, 

 though not in all, the black siipercilium passes across the lores to the 

 base of the bill,"* for there are other differences, which, in the case of 

 specimens like that quoted by Mr. Seebohm (Ibis, 1884, p. 37), most 

 likely would show them to be true ^E". trivirgatus. A glance at the 

 tables of measurements appended below shows tbat the Japanese bird 

 has a comparatively shorter tail and a longer bill than the West Euro- 

 pean ^githalos europmus (HERM.)t; the bill is also perceptibly thicker 

 and stouter. In regard to colors, those of the Japanese bird are purer 

 and clearer, and the vinous tinge on the under parts perceptibly lighter; 

 the white edges of the tertiaries and inner secondaries are purer aud 

 broader in ^. trivirgatus than in ^. europcetts, and hardly differing 

 from some specimens of true ^. catidatus ; the superciliary stripe is 

 more solid and more intensive and shining black, besides, as already 

 remarked by earlier writers, as a general rule exteudiug to the bill. As 

 on the loral region the blacldsh color seems restricted to the tips of the 

 feathers it wears off easily, and as some British specimens have the 

 loral feathers similarly, though less extensively, tipped with dusky, this 

 character alone may not always be sufficient for distinguisliing speci- 

 mens from the extreme west or east of the Eurasian Continent. In 

 view of the many other characters sei>arating the two forms, which have 

 not been mentioned by the authors claiming to have examined inter- 

 mediate specimens, I refuse to use a triuominal designation for the 

 Japanese Bottle-tit. 



The present species is restricted to the Japanese Islands south of 

 " Blakiston's Line," north of which ^. caudatus is found. The adults 

 of the two species are very easily distingnished, inasmuch as the former 

 has a very distinct and broad black superciliary stripe \^hich poste- 

 riorly is connected with the black of the back, thus encircling the white 



* Cf. Seebohm, Brit. B. Eggs., i, p. 487. 



tl804. — Plpraf europcm Hermann, Obs. Zool., p. 214. 



1816. — Mecistura ragaiis Leach, Syst. Cat. Mam. B. Br. Mus., p. 17 {nom. nud.). 



1836. — Mecistura rosea Blyth, ed. White's Nat. Hist. Selborne (p. 111). 



1839. — Mecistura longicaudata MacgilliVray, Hist. Brit. B., ii, p. 454. 



