180 Mr. II. Seebohm on the 



Iynx torquilla. 



An example of this species (No. 1242)^ a male dated 

 Hakodadi^ May, was identified by Swinhoe (Ibis, 1874, 

 p. 162) as hjnx japonica. A careful comparison of this skin 

 and a series of skins from South China with European 

 examples fails to show any differences either of colour or 

 size which are not common to eastern as Avell as western 

 birds. This species does not appear to present any climatic 

 variations. 



Chelidon dasypus. 



The type of this species from Borneo in the Leyden 

 Museum has been compared with the type of C. b/akistoni 

 from Japan by Mr. Sharpe, who pronounces them to be 

 identical. Bonaparte's name will probably be the one 

 adopted by ornithologists. 



COIIVUS NEGLECTUS. 



An example in the collection of Captain Blakiston 

 (No. 2701), obtained at Osaka, in the southern portion of 

 the main island of Japan, appears to belong to an intermediate 

 form between Corvus dauricus and C. negledus. 



Xanthopygia cyanomel^na. 



Capt. Blakiston has pointed out to me a most unaccount- 

 able blunder in the British Museum Catalogue of Birds 

 (iv. p. 251), with reference to the female of this species. 

 Four examples collected by Mr. H. Henson near Hakodadi, 

 and a fifth example from Canton in the Swinhoe collection, 

 agree with the plate and description of Miiscicapa gularis of 

 the ' Fauna Japonica/ a name which Mr. Sharpe includes in 

 the synonymy of J\'. cyanomehena, admitting it to be the female 

 of that species. Nevertheless in the description a young 

 male is erroneously described as the female. The latter 

 differs in having no trace of blue on any part of the plu- 

 mage, and no white on the base of the tail-feathers. The 

 pale tips to the greater wing-coverts and innermost secon- 

 daries betray the immature birds at a glance. It appears to 

 me that the plumage described by Mr. Sharpe as belonging to 

 the adult female is that of the young male in first plumage. 



