VOL. XVI, -j PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 619 



1893. 



^J^j. hypoleuca Salv. and ^i/\ brevipcs Peale, which latter I cousider the 

 same as Macdillivray's JE. torquata.* Of the smaller ^li^strelata' with 

 white wedge on the inner web of primaries it needs only comparison 

 with ^:E'. defilippiana and yE. leucoptera. It ditfers from the latter 

 by the greater amount of white on the under wing-eoverts (agreeing in 

 this respect almost absolutely with ^E. defiUppiana as exemplitied by 

 specimen Xo. 9961, kindly lent me by Eev. Canon Tristram), by the 

 plumbeous color of the back, and by the different coloration of the tail- 

 feathers. From JE. dcjilippiana, on the other hand, it differs, among 

 other things, sufficiently in having the top of head and nape blackish, 

 like the small upper wing-coverts, and not ashy like the rest of the 

 upper surface. I may add that the characters of ^EJ. h'ucoptera, as 

 now. understood by me, are furnished me from Gould's tyj^es in the 

 Philadelphia Academy of Sciences by Mr. Witmer Stone, who also had 

 the kindness to directly compare them with the present species. 



I know of no other species with which ^E. longirostris needs com- 

 parison. 



It is one of the most interesting recent additions to the fauna of 

 Japan, or, more properly, to that of the North Pacific Ocean, as the 

 province of Mutsu, whence came the two specimens here noticed, can 



*A8 Peale's ^. brevipes has heretofore always figured among the synonyms of ^E. 

 leucoptera (^E. coOkii Anct. nee Gray), a few remarks may not be out of place. The 

 material before me consists of Peale's two specimens and Canon Tristram's No. 9779 

 ( ,? ad. Muanivake, interior of Viti Levu; T. Kleinschmidt coll. iMay, 187S), labeled 

 Ji. iorquaia in Mr. Salvin's handwriting, and kindly lent me by the owner. The 

 latter specimen, it is true, is not one of the types, but it agrees so clo.sely with the 

 descriptions published that I feel confident of its correct identification. This being 

 the case I have no hesitation in pronouncing .E. torqnata a synonym of Ji'. hrevipes, 

 for the three specimens are as much alike as any three specimens of JEstreJatal have 

 seen. They dift'er from ^. lencoptera by having the back plumbeous and bj^ having 

 the wedge in the inner web of primaries ill defined gray instead of Avell-defined 

 white. As Peale's two specimens served Mr. Cassiu as basis for his ProceUaria cookii 

 and Mr. Ridgway for his J?, leucoptera the synonymy of the present species would 

 stand thus : 



iEstrelata brevipes (Peale). 



ISiS.— ProceUaria hrevipes Peale, ZoiJl. Expl. Exp., Birds, (p. 294). 



1858. — ProceUaria cookii Cassin. IJ. S. Expl. Exp. Mamm. and Orn.. p. 414 (nee Gray; 



nee Gould). 

 1860. — ProceUaria torquata MacGillivray, Zoiil., xviii, p. 7133. 

 1863. — ProceUaria desolata Schlegel, Mus. P. Bas., Proc, ji. 13 {part; nee Gmel). 

 1871. — Wulmarns aneiteimensis Gray, Hand-1. B., iii, p. 107 (nom, nud.: Jide Salvin. 



Gray, however, quotes MacGillivray's torquata loc. cit., p. 1104). 

 1887. — Jistrelata leucoptera Ridgway, Man. N.Am. B., p. 65 {nee Gould). 



I may mention a character found in all three specimens by mereterred to ^i'. brevipes, 

 viz., numerous hair like white filaments on occiput, hind neck, and sides of neck. 

 These filaments I have been unable to observe in any other JSstreJata in our coUec- 

 ti(m, but Mr. Witmer Stone, who kindly examined and compared some of my speci- 

 mens with Gould's types in the museum of the Philadelphia Academy, informs me 

 that similar filaments are present in the uniform dusky siiecimen which Gould con- 

 sidered the vouug of his JE. moUis. 



