^"i8iK{!"'] PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. G33 



lias tlie identical pale patch! True, it is not blue, but what of " Tarsi- 

 f/er^^ ci/annrns, Avhich has both the blue (;olor and the pale throat i)atch'? ! 

 It is clear that the pale throat patch is of hijiher than "pjeuoric value." 

 On the other hand, were we to be <>uided by color alone, we shoutd 

 feel tenipt(Hl to pla(;e Gyanoptila near some of the si)ecies now referred 

 to Cyornifi, but in view of the very weak I'eet and ]on<;- Miii.ys of our 

 ))resent sixicies, it will be well to keep them apart until a n)ore natural 

 arrangement of ^<// the flycatchers can be effected. The experiment of 

 exchanging one uncertainty for another is hardly scientific. 



(210) Ficedula ferruginea ((im.). 



A young male from tlie ])rovince of Yamashiro (No. 1G45), 

 Mr. Seel)()hm has recently referred this species to the genus Sijjhia, 

 of which i^. strophiata is the type, but as I sliall show, with but poor 

 reason. Gates has placed the species usually called Erythrosterna in 

 the same genus, but ha\ing no access to the type species oi ^S^p/lia i 

 am unable to say whetlu'r he is right or wrong. As 1 can find no 

 valid character by wliich to separate eitlier of them generically from 

 Ficedula, it matters little as far as my nomenclature is concerned. It 

 it quite plain that it is a certain resemblance in tlie coloration that luis 

 led Mr. 8eebohm to the ill-advised step of calling this bird Siphia, as 

 Avill appear from the foUowing quotation (!>. Jap. Emp., p. (JO): "The 

 Mugimaki Flycatcher belongs to the genus Siphia, in which, althougli 

 the sexes differ in color, they agree in havlny the base of the tail 

 more or less white and the upper tail-coverts nearly blaclc.''^ I have 

 italicized the last paragraph for the reason tliat it is entirely erroneous. 

 In the "Mugimaki Flycatcher" the sexes do not agree in these points 

 at all, inasmuch as the female has the tail perfectly uniform, witliout 

 any white at base, and the n])per tail-coverts not l)lack, but uniform 

 with the back. There is conseciuently no reason to join roliomyias 

 with Siphia on account of the coloration. 



Locustella hondoensis, s]). nov. 



.Diagnosis. — Rictal bristles obsolete, outer tail-feathers two-thirds, the 

 central ones entirely, covered by under tail-coverts; ui)per parts uni- 

 form olive; culmen, to extreme base, more than 1G.5""" (0.65 inch). 



Habitat. — Japan . 



Typc-Sc. Coll., Tokyo, Xo. 1C09; i»rovince of Shimosa. 



The type, although a young bird, clearly belongs to an undescribed 

 species, for not only is the coloration unique, but the length of the bill 

 is ([uite as characteristic. In pro])ortion to its size (all feathers fully 

 grown) the present form is, in f;ict, the longest billed species aiuong 

 related birds. The shapes of the bill is exactly that of L.fasciolata, 

 though somewhat slenderer on account of its proportionally greater 

 leni-th. 



