vol.. XVI 



%^r'1 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 623 



he failed to see the distinction between the color of the occii)ital crest 

 and the rest of the upper plumage, except the scapular plumes, and 

 that consequently he refers to the specimens under the name of "^r<Zea" 

 jugular is Wagler. 



To this I may remark that in the specimen sent nearly all that is 

 seen of the back, on account of the make of the skin, consists of the 

 scapular plumes. If the elongated occipitals, however, be compared 

 with the feathers of the hind neck no one can fail to appreciate the dis- 

 tinction in color. The top of the head and the occipital crest in the 

 specimen before me (No. 1802) are beautifully plumbeous, " while in 

 the Polynesian specimens the top of head and the occipital crest are 

 much darker, corresponding closely to Eidgway's ' slate black.' " 



I must therefore contend that Br. Ijima's Tsushima specimen, so 

 far from weakening the status of Demiegretta ringer i^ has materially 

 strengthened it. 



Phasianus torquatus (Gmel.). 



A specimen from Tsushima (Sc. Coll. Mus. No. 1775) was sent in order 

 to have it compared with '' continental " specimens. It agrees in every 

 particular with other specimens collected by P. L. Jouy in Tsushima, 

 now in the U. S. National Museum, as well as with specimens from 

 Fusan, Korea, collected by the same gentleman. Of Chinese speci- 

 mens I have only two specimens procured in the Shanghai market, but 

 ■without information as to exact locality. From these the Korean and 

 Tsushima birds differ in the greater amount of chestnut on the inter- 

 ^capulium. Seebohm {Ihis^ 1888, pp. 313, 314) in a very general Avay 

 nints at local differences of coloration in Ph. torquatus, but fails to 

 establish any races. With a less extensive material I do not feel jus- 

 tified in separating the Korean birds. 



(157) Coturnix cotuniix japonica (Tcmiu. & S'^hl.). 



In regard to the Japanese quails, I am inclined to make Mr. See- 

 bohm's words mine, viz, " I do not believe in the two quails." (Trans. 

 As. Soc. Jap., X, 1882, p. 128.) The pattern and ground color of the 

 throat in the European quail is very variable indeed, and the Japan- 

 ese subspecies is no exception, as the material before me shows, in 

 which I can trace all gradations from white-throated birds to those with 

 a uniform dark vinaceous-cinnamon throat. 



One of the two birds sent by Dr. Ijima is particularly instructive, as 

 it shows a phase of the throat coloration of the Japanese bird not yet 

 recorded. No. 2168, from the Province of Owari, is an old male in the 

 normal breeding plumage, i. e., with the whole throat and sides of face 

 uniform dark vinaceous-cinnamon, in every respect identical with a 

 male collected by Capt. Blakiston at Sapporo, Yezo, May 11, 1877 (U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., No. 95980). The other specimen (No. 2170), from the same 

 locality, differs, however, in having a large black patch down the mid 

 die of the throat, sending off at the lower end on each side the usual 



