290 ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



sliot on the same day, out of the same flock, being intermediate in color 

 between that described and the ^^ amurensia'''' state, as it has much less 

 white on the primaries, a little less on the primary coverts, while the 

 arm coverts and middle ones are fully as white ; the lesser ones are 

 blackish with broader and more distinct gray edges. 



Old <x .— U. S. Xat. Mils. JVo. 92688; L. Stcjneger iS^o.2058. PetropauIsM, May'ZA, 1883. 



Iris very dark brown. Bill and feet black. Primaries exactly as in the male. 



'Ova small. 



Differs from the old male, described above, in having the back, including scapu- 

 lars, plumbeons gray, strongly mottled with black, and more whitish on the chin. 

 The wing-feathers are quite similarly colored, only that thi) first iirimary on the basal 

 half of the inner web has some faint dusky mottlings; the wing-coverts are also 

 similar, except the lesser ones, which are gray. The lateral pair of tail-feathers is 

 pure white without black, and the following has the black margin of the same extent 

 as in the lateral pair of the male; the third pair has a small terminal white streak 



' on both sides of the shaft. 



This would be the female M. blaMfitoni. 



The following j^lumage is that most commonly met with. I have 

 nothiug to add to Mr. Robert Ridgway's descriptions of the specimens 

 .brought home by me, which are therefore only reprinted from his article. 



Adult $ .— JJ. S. Xaf. Mus. iV^o. 88986 ; L. Stejneger Xo. 1034. Bering Island, May 11, 1882. 



Posterior half of crown, with occiput, glossy blue black ; back, scapulars, and upper 

 tail-coverts, duller black, the rump mixed black and plumbeous gray ; lesser wing- 

 coverts, uniform ash gray. Forehead, anterior half of crown, and broad superciliary 

 stripe, pure white ; beneath this, a distinct black line, conduent with the black of the 

 occiput, and extending thence forward along upper edge of auriculars to the eye, and 

 from the latter across lores to the bill, biat loral- stripe rather indistinct anteriorly; 

 side of head below this black line, pure white; chin also white, but more or less 

 mixed with blackish ; throat and jugulum, uniform blue back, with a strongly convex 

 posterior outline ; rest of lower parts, pure Avhite, but tinged laterally with bluish 

 gray. Lateral upper tail-coverts with outer webs very broadly edged with white; 

 middle rectxices black, the outer webs distinctly edged with pure white; next three 

 rectrices, on each side, uniform brownish black; two outer rectrices (on each side) 

 pure white, the inner web of the first with or without a very narrow edging of blackish 

 along the middle portion, that of the second with a broader and more extended 

 blackish edging. Exposed portion of middle and greater wing-coverts and outer web 



■crime if he had united these birds with other forms, for instance, japonica or ocula- 

 ris. As it is he has attracted special attention to these birds, and furthermore, we 

 have his elaborate descriptions and a good plate. I venture to say that on the con- 

 trary it has been to the benefit of science, against which the load of the easily- 

 located synonyms is a trifle. It is not this kind of synonyms which is troublesome, 

 but those like Motacilla liigens Tkmm., luc Kittl., neo IixiG., nee and so forth, which 

 make gray hairs for the ornithologist. It may here be remarked that the phase " blakis- 

 toni" has already, in 1859, been described by Zander as leucoptera Brehm, "aus Japan. 

 * * * Halsseiten weiss * * * durch die Augen ein schwarzer Streif. * * * 

 Die kleinen Deckfedern der Fliigel schwarz, die mittlercu und grossen ganz weiss, 

 von den letzteren bloss die erste am Schafte etwas gran," &c. See, however, under 

 "Conclusions," about the possibility of M. amurensis being distinct. 



