Manchester Memoirs, Vol. l. (1906), No. 13. 7 



distinct fawn-colour, approaching that of P. rufipectus, 

 Severtz. The date of the specimen is December 14, 1867, 

 so that it is in full winter plumage. I have elsewhere 

 remarked on the difference in the colour of the under parts 

 shewn by P. rufipectus, which has also a long crest similar 

 to that of P. pekinensis, and has a rufous breast when in 

 full feather, which fades to a sort of creamy fawn-colour 

 in worn plumage. 



I find that the same difference exists in P. pekmensis. 

 A specimen from Kuatun, presented to the British Museum 

 by Mr. C. B. Rickett, and obtained in May, is in very worn 

 plumage, and is therefore very much paler below than the 

 Pekin bird ; it has an evanescent tinge of fawn-colour, 

 and also an extraordinary crest of elongated plumes. No 

 one examining either of these specimens of P. pekinensis 

 could doubt the distinctness of the -species from P. ater, 

 and I can only suppose that Mr. Dresser had not examined 

 these birds in the British Museum when he determined to 

 unite the two species in his recently published " Manual 

 of Palsearctic Birds." 



Another specimen in the British Museum which I 

 also consider to be P. pekinensis is a female bird from 

 Chemulpo in Corea (C. W. Campbell : Seebohm Coll.), 

 but those from the Gulf of the Amur, Ussuri Land, and 

 Kamtchatka seem to be true P. ater, as do the birds from 

 Krasnoyarsk. Siberian birds are slightly more fawn- 

 coloured below, and shew some approach to P. rifipectus. 



A specimen from the Gulf of the Amur River, 

 collected by the brothers Doerries, and bequeathed by 

 Seebohm to the British Museum, cannot be separated 

 from P. ater, as it has no more crest than that species. 

 The white bars on the wing, are, however, somewhat 

 broader, and there is a distinct tinge of buff on the under- 

 parts, especially on the flanks, though the rump is scarcely 



