1886.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 649 



I shall designate the Japanese bird as Pericrocotus ja/ponicus (Type 

 U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 109349), taking the mainland bird to be the true 

 P. cinereus. This name, however, was based on a female from the 

 Philippine Islands, consequently on a bird with gray head, and it is, 

 therefore, impossible to determine from his descrijition whether the 

 name belongs to the Japanese or the Continental form, the more so since 

 he gives no other measurements than those of total length and tail. A 

 direct comparison with the type will be necessary to settle the question 

 beyond doubt. In the meantime I feel justified in retaining P. cinereus 

 for the form which has been so designated by most writers, and espe- 

 cially by Mr. E. B. Sharpe in his valuable Catalogue of Birds in the 

 British Museum (vol. iv, pp. 83, 84). 



Pericrocotus tegimw, as the following comparison with P. cinereus and 

 P. japonicus will show, is, perhaps, the most distinct and best-delined 

 species of the group containing the gray Pericrocoti. It will be observed 

 that only such characters have been included in the above diagnosis, 

 which probably apply to the females as well as to the males. 



The males of P. tegimce differ from the males of P. cinereus and P. 

 japonicus : 



(1) By having the whole crown bluish black, only leaving a narrow 

 white band on the forehead and a short superciliary stripe white, while 

 in the two last-named forms the white covers the whole forehead and 

 anterior half of the crown. 



(2) By the bluish black of the upper head and neck not ending ab- 

 ruptly, but gradually becoming lighter backwards over all the upper 

 parts which are much darker than in any of the allied species. 



(3) By having the entire upper surface of the wing uniform blackish, 

 with the exception of a small but well defined white speculum at the 

 base of the outer secondaries, while the other forms have the bases of 

 the primaries and secondaries as well as the outer webs of the tertia- 

 ries ashy, and the latter margined with more or less white, while all the 

 coverts, except primary coverts, are bordered with gray. 



(4) By possessing no trace of the white speculum on the outer web 

 of the sixth primary. 



(5) By having the lower fore neck and upper breast dark ashy, in 

 strong contrast with the white of the throat, upper fore neck, and middle 

 lower breast and abdomen, while in the allied forms the whole under 

 surface is pure white. 



(G) By having the under side of the shafts of the four central tail- 

 feathers black, these being white in P. cinereus and P. japonicus. 



(7) By having comparatively much shorter wings than either of the 

 two other forms. 



In view of this comparison, extending over nearly all the essential 

 parts, a detailed description of P. tegimw is deemed unnecessary in the 

 present connection. I may remark that both specimens are precisely 

 alike, except that in the specimen now in the U. S. National Museum 



