402 ON THE BIEDS INHABITING [1875. 



bein" present in the summer dress, and adds : — " In winter the crest see7ns to fall, leaving the 

 head smooth and plain chestnut, instead of being capped and crested with cinereous-black 

 plumes." A valuable and detailed account given by Mr. Swinhoe {torn. cit. p. 123) of the 

 Formosan species when young (nearly full-grown) agrees with the Archipelagic bird at a similar 

 at^e. This state of plumage is not found, or at least has not been described as occurring, in 

 the Japan species {cf. Faun. Jap. pi. 70, immat., and Mus. Pays-Bas, /. c). The facts known, 

 bearino- on the phases of plumage peculiar to the Japanese and the South-Asiatic races, induce 

 me to hesitate before adopting Mr. Swinhoe's views. As a fact, the Malayan species {G. meJano- 

 Tr. Z. S. Ls. lop/i^s) wears the full chestnut plumage and the long black crest in winter; for I possess 

 ^' ' specimens, obtained by the late Mr. Maingay at Malacca in December, in that dress. Again, 

 the Japanese, although said not to possess a black crest, does wear a long purple-chestnut crest ; 

 for so it is described by Temminck (/. c.) ; and a Nagasaki example {mus. nostr.) has a full 

 chestnut-coloured crest. The only Japanese example in the British Museum wears the same 

 plumage. 



The bill in all the Malaccan examples I have examined is longer and straighter than in 

 that of the Nagasaki individual above referred to. 



The British Museum contains a Philippine example in chestnut plumage, with a black 

 crown and flowing black crest. It is not enumerated in the Hand-list. In the same work, on 

 the other hand, N. limnophilax, Temm., is entered as a separate species (No. 101G4), from 

 the Philippines, but not as being represented in the Museum. 



Dr. V. Martens {I. c.) described a species of Botaurus which he had observed in the 

 Military Library at Manilla, and identified it with the Ardea 2^fiiiij>2^ensis, Gm. His short 

 account agrees best with G. goisagi ; for he says nothing about a black crest ; and this negative 

 evidence favours the hypothesis that G. melanolophus= G. goisagi. 



Ardea i)hilip})ensis, Gm., is generally considered to be the same as A. undulata, Gm. S. N. 

 i. p. 637, no. 54. Brisson first described the individual (Orn. v. p. 474, no. 38) on which Gmelin 

 bestowed the title of A. yldUpijensis. The type, according to Brisson, was sent from the 

 Philippines to M. Aubrey. The description of the plumage, given in great detail, does not tally 

 as well with G. melanolophus, or G. goisagi, as with the American species, while the dimensions 

 are much too small. BufFon, also, who (Hist. Nat. Ois. vii. p. 395) entitled it "le petit Crabier," 

 mentions that it is even smaller than " le Blongios " (Ardetta mimda). Prince Bonaparte's 

 identification of A. pkilippensis, Gm., with A. undulata, Gm. (Consp. ii. p. 138), in which he is 

 confirmed by Professor Schlegel (Mus. Pays-Bas, Ardece, p. 56), appears therefore, on the 

 whole, to be well founded. In Mr. Gray's Hand-list, no. 10154, it is treated as a distinct 

 Philippine species, under the title of Zebrilus pumilus (Bodd.). 



Two species of Spoonbills were described by Sonnerat as inhabiting the island of Luzon, 

 namely : — 



La Spatule blanche de lisle de Lngon, Sonn. Voy. Nouv. Guiu. p. 89, pi. 51. 

 Platalea alha. Scop. Del. Fl. Faun. Insubr. ii. p. 92, no. 75 (1786), ex Sonn. 

 Platalea leucorodia, var. /3, Gm. S. N. i. p. 614, ex Sonn., 



