90 ON \ COLLECTION OF BIRDS 



also seems to believe in tlie identity of G. goisagi with 

 G. melanolophus , as, speakiug of the specimen from Pelew 

 Isl. already mentioned by him and Hartlaub (P. Z. S. 1868, 

 p. 8) as Nycticorax goisagi, he now calls it N. mela- 

 nolophus, though repeating that it agrees completely with 

 the posterior figure of A. goisagi in the Fauna Japonica. 

 Finsch considers this specimen , being the only one that 

 ever was found in the Pelew group of Islands , an acci- 

 dental visitor and has dropped the idea that the Philip- 

 pines are to be considered an intermediate station for 

 this bird. 



Lord Tweeddale (Viscount Walden) treated the question 

 very critically in his Birds of the Philippines (Trans. Z. S. 

 IX, p. 238). This author believes the Philippine bird to 

 be G. melanolophus , but is undecided as to the Japanese 

 bird being entitled to stand as a distinct species. 



David and Oustalet (Ois. de la Chine, 1877, p. 444) unite 

 the different forms under the head of Gorsachius melano- 

 lophus , fixing the differences between the aduli melanolophus 

 and goisagi in the following term: » Vertex, nuque et plu- 

 mes occipitales d'un brun marron foncé ou d'un brun 

 noiratre foncé, suivant les saisons et les localités*'. And 

 about the differences between adult and young , thus as 

 well of the Indian as of the Japanese form, these authors 

 say: »Chez les jeunes, les teintes des parties supérieures 

 sont encore moins uniformes, et les plumes de la huppe 

 offrent en general des taches blanches arrondies." 



Blackiston and Pryer (Ibis 1878, p. 223) mention Goi- 

 sachius melanolophus as coming from Japan , and though 

 they give no description of the bird , I am pretty sure that 

 they had G. goisagi , which they considered identical with 

 G. melanolophus. 



Sharpe (Ibis 1879, p. 271) is the first who mentions, 

 under the name of Gorsachius melanolophus., an authentic 

 specimen from Borneo. 



Legge (Birds of Ceylon, p. 1169 and ff.) , following the 

 example of previous authors , unites the Japanese bird with 



^otes from tbie Leyden ]Museutn., "Vol. IX. 



