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1a PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 341 
Phyllopseustes tenellipes (SwINu.). (244) 
So far only two specimens of this species have been taken in Japan, 
both at Hakodate. It is, therefore, very interesting to find in Mr. Hen- 
son’s collection no less than fourteen specimens of this rare bird (U.S.Nat. 
Mus., Nos. 120414-120427). They were not collected by Mr. Henson 
himself, but by a native, and are therefore neither dated nor sexed, but 
“they were all netted on the hill behind Hakodate.” So far as I can 
judge they are all in spring plumage. 
The question now naturally arises: Where is the real habitat of this 
species? Mr. Seebohm (Cat. B. Br. Mus., v, p. 47) supposes it to breed 
in Japan, evidently upon the strength of Whitely’s specimen having 
been collected in May. But if it breeds in Yezo, is it probable that it 
could have so entirely escaped both Capt. Blakiston and Mr. Henson? 
Pleske, on the other hand, asserts that Ph. tenellipes breeds in Sakh- 
alin (Orn. Ross., 0, pt. 2, p.191). In view of these facts it seems proba-- 
ble that Ph. tenellipes only passes Yezo during the spring migration, 
and not even then regularly. 
Urophlexis* ussuriana (SEEB.). (234) 
Four specimens in autumnal plumage, from Hakodate. 
I am somewhat doubtful as to the correctness of this identification. 
Seebohm, in 1881 (Cat. B. Brit. Mus., v, p. 143), separated a specimen 
collected in Ussuri from U. squameiceps (SWINH.) as “Cettia ussuria- 
nus” on account of the more olive cast of the plumage of the latter 
(squameiceps being described as “chocolate brown,” by which term he 
probably intends to designate a more rufescent cast). Since then he 
has examined many Japanese specimens, and in 1890 (B. Jap. Emp., p. 
74) he still maintains this distinction, referring, as he does, the Japanese 
birds to typical U. squameiceps. If we compare Swinhoe’s description 
in Ibis, 1877, p. 205, and figure on pl. iv, Seebohm’s measurements (Cat. 
B. Br. Mus., v, p. 143) and Oates’s statement (B. Ind., I, p. 442) in regard 
to the graduation of the tail, with the results of our own measurements 
of eleven Japanese and Korean specimens, as given below, we shall soon 
gain the conviction that the latter differ from the Formosan and the 
Tenasserim birds. The average graduation of the tails of the former 
is 2™™ (maximum 3™™"), while Seebohm’s Formosa skin has the tail grad- 
uated 6"™. In other words, while the tail in U. squameiceps is nearly 
wedge-shaped, those of the Japanese and Korean birds are barely 
rounded. Now, Seebohm’s measurements of Cettia ussuriana show that 
this bird has the tail rounded like the Japanese and Korean specimens. 
Leaving coloration out of consideration it would therefore seem as if 
we had at least two forms, one with a very rounded tail and another 
with the tailnearly even. As to the alleged difference in color, it may 
* Urosphena SWINHOE is preoccupied. The above substitute is derived from ovpa, 
tail, and gAeéic, the name of an unknown bird. 
