1886. J PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 635 



Okinawa Shima, or Great Liu Kiu, is a long and narrow island, its 

 greatest length in a soiitliwestnortheast direction being nearly GO miles. 

 It is well cultivated in the southern part, about the chief city called 

 Napa or Nafa, but further north it becomes rugged and mountainous 

 and covered with forests. 



Turnix blakistoni Swinh, 



The discovery of this little quail-like bird on Japanese territory adds 

 not only a species and genus to the list of Japanese birds, but a whole 

 superfaraily, Turnicoidew, or Turnicomorphcv as the group is called by 

 some ornithologists who consider it worthy of rank as an order. 



I am somewhat doubtful in regard to the specific name, for Swinhoe's 

 decriptiou, if it can be called a description, is very short and unsatis- 

 factory, and I have no Chinese si)ecimens for comparison. Here is what 

 he says (P. Z. S., 1871, p. 401) : 



"A male specimen of the T. ocellata group was procured by Captain 

 Blakiston at Canton, and kindly given to me. This differs too much 

 from the last [T. rostrata] for me to consider it of the same species. Its 

 nearest ally is the T. pugnax, Temm., of Malacca, but it is smaller, 

 shorter-toed, and possesses a remarkably small bill. Instead of spots 

 it has numerous bands across the breast, and its upper parts are very 

 rufous. I propose to separate it under the name of its discoverer." 



I have before me a pair of " T. pugnax from Malacca" (U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 Nos. 15176 and 15177), or T. plumbipes Hoksf., as it ought to stand ac- 

 cording to the opinion of the Marquis of Tweeddale, who considered it 

 distinct from the typical T. pugnax from Java, from the male of which 

 the bird from Liu Kiu differs in the following points : 



(1) It is considerably smaller, with somewhat smaller bill and feet. 



(2) Its forehead differs distinctly from the crown in being buftish 

 •white wiih black streaks, the crown being dark rufous with blackish 

 centers, and a light median stripe. 



(3) On the upper parts the ground color is much more rufous and the 

 light marks more buffy. 



(4) It is less heavily banded on the flanks. 



So far as the description goes, the Liu Kiu bird, therefore, agrees tol- 

 erably weir with the characters ascribed by Swinhoe to his T. blaMstoni. 

 I should remark, however, that the Indian form, which Mr. Hume calls 

 T. taigoor Sykes , also seems to differ from plumbipes chiefly by the 

 rufous tint of the upper parts (cf. Hume, Stray Feath., YI, 1878, p. 451). 



The occurrence of a Hemipode on Japanese territory is not very sur- 

 prising, since a species of this family has been found on the ojjposite 

 mainland as far north as Ussuri (latitude of northern Yesso). 



The following description of the Liu Kiu specimen may not be out of 

 place : 



$ ad. Napa, Okinawa Shima, March 29, 1880. Coll. M. Namiye. — Fore- 

 head whitish, slightly tinged with buff, each feather marked longitud- 



