NOTES ON A JAPANESE SPECIES OF KEED VVAKBLER. 



By Leonhard StejnectER. 



In a recent paper on a collection of Japanese birds submitted to me 

 for examination by the authorities of the Science College Museum, 

 Tokyo,* I described what 1 considered a new species as LociisteUa 

 hondoensis. At that time the volume for 1889 of the Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society of London belonging to the Museum was at the Gov- 

 ernment bindery, and consequently inaccessible to me. Siui^e the publi- 

 cation of the above descrij)tion, however, I have had access to another 

 copy and find that the naming of this species had already been antici- 

 pated by the late Dr. L, Tac/anowski. Three males in greatly abraded 

 plumage, collected near Chemulpo, Korea, on July 15, 1887, were at first 

 recorded by him as LocKstellafasciolata. t The following year-, however, 

 he corrected this mistake and named the birds Locustella ijlesla'i in 

 honor of Dr. Th. Pleske, the distinguished director of the zoological 

 museum of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. 



Notwithstanding the fact that his tyx)es, as stated, were adult birds 

 in greatly abraded plumage and that mine (Sc. Coll. Mus,, No. KHJO) is 

 a young bird, the descrii)tion furnished by Dr. Taczanowski is sufficient 

 to warrant the conclusion that the two names refer to the same species. 



It will be noticed, however, that Taczanowski lays considerable stress 

 upon the alleged larger size of L. pleskei as compared with L. oehoten- 

 sis, while, on the other hand, I have regarded them as practically of the 

 same size; but it must be remembered that my bird was a young one, 

 while Taczanowski's types were adult males, and that on account of 

 the abraded state of their wings and tail he allowed for their consequent 

 smaller dimensions. 



To supplement the measurements given by me| so as to make them 

 more comparable with the dimensions given by Taczanowski, I may 

 state that in the type of L. hondoensis the bill from tip to angle of 

 mouth measures 185 mm., and from tip to nostril 105 mm., consequently 



* Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xvi, 1893, No. 957, p. 633. 

 tProc. Zool. Soc, London, 1888, p. 455. 

 t Proc. U. 8. Nat. Mus., xvi, 1893, p. 635. 

 Proceediugs National Museum, Vol. XV^II — No. 997. 



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