ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 247 



111. Hypocentor variabilis (Temm.). 



1835.— -Bmftema variabilis Temm., PL Color, III, livr. 98, pi. 583, fig. 2.— Temm. & 

 SciiLEG., Fauna Japon. Aves (pi. 56) (1847).— Blakist. & Pryer, Trans. As. 

 Soc, VIII, 1880, p. 230.— Ji<7. Hid., X, 1882, p. 171.— Blakist., Amend. List B. 

 Jap., p. 17 {188i).—i:uspiza v. Swinh., Ibis, 1875, p. 450.— Blakist. &, 

 Pryer, Ibis, 1878, p. 243.— Taczan., Ball. Soc. Zool. France, 1879, p. 137.— 

 Id., Hid., 1882, p. 393.— 7d., J. f. Orn., 1881, p. 184. 



lS58.—Z(motrichia mnsica Kittl., Deukw., II, p. 201.— Hartl., J. f. Orn., 1859, p. 50. 



I refer this species with much doubt to Rypoeentor, and should, in 

 fact, prefer to see it made the type of a distinct genus. It has a large bill 

 with a remarkably long gonys ; the tomia of the upper mandible are 

 very little inflected, the nasal grooves are nearly filled with hairy feath- 

 ers, and at the base are several rather stroug bristles. The wing is 

 rather short and much more rounded, the first primary being interme- 

 diate between fourth and fifth. The hind claw is very small. 



There can, in my opiuion, be no doubt that this is the ZonotricMa 

 musiea of v. Kittlitz, described by him from Kamtschatka, as he (1. c.) gives 

 a very recognizable description of the old male : " It was light bluish- 

 ash colored, ouly on the lower surface gradually becoming whitish ; 

 back and wing feathers black with broad edges of the same beautiful 

 ash color as the rest of the plumage ; bill and feet yellowish flesh-col- 

 ored, the former grayish above ; iris dark brown." 



The only bird of this species which came within my observation was 

 an adult male, an accidental straggler from Kamtschatka, shot by me in 

 a small ravine close by the village of Bering Island on the 11th of June, 

 1883. 



Although terribly damaged by the shot, and thus making a very poor 

 specimen for the collection, it suffices for the following measurements 

 and remarks : 



U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 92643, L. Stejneger No. 2158. 



^ ad. Testes very large, swollen. Total length, 168"""; tail beyond wings, 38™™ ; 

 wing, 86'""^ ; tail-feathers, 74'"™. 



Bill blackish brown, tomia and lower mandible flesh-colored. Feet light brownish 

 flesh-colored ; claws pale. 



The plumage is similarly colored to that described by v. Kittlitz above, but the 

 black markings on the interscapular region are rather small and nearly obsolete. 



This peculiar plumage, so unlike the general style of Old World 

 JEmherizin(e, reminds one strongly of some of the forms inhabiting the 



