634 BIRDS FEOM TOKYO, JAPAN STEJNEGER. 



The color of the upper surface is uuifoiui and ratlier dark olive, with- 

 out auy of the browuish cast so universal iu the other species of Locus- 

 tcn<(, a peculiarity of coloration the more remarkable since it is clearly 

 a yonii.i;' bird, and young birds of this genus are usually strongly suf- 

 fused with yellowish, or buff,-ou the upper parts as well as on the 

 lower. 



That the bird in (question really belongs to the genus Locustella, and 

 has to be compared with species of that genus alone, will be i)laiii from 

 some of the characters mentioned in the diagnosis, viz, the rudimentary 

 development of the ri(;tal bristles and the great extent of the gradua- 

 tion of the tail. To make perfectly sure, I may add that the tail con- 

 sists of twelve feathers, and that the lirst (tenth, or distal) primary is 

 very small, just extending beyond the primary coverts, and less than 

 one-third the second. 



The bird in question probably belongs to the group of the genus 

 which has no subapical blackish bar across the tail-feathers, the spec- 

 imen before me showing no trace of it, but as this character is less 

 developed in the young birds than in the adults I do not venture to be 

 positive about it. 



It remains to comi)are the specimen with those species of the genus 

 which have uniformly colored upi)er parts. 



L.Jluviatilis and ?«/sciwioi^t;s, being exclusively western palaearctic, 

 hardly need mention, but to make the comparison complete I may 

 remark that, aside from their shorter bills, their wing formuhe are 

 entirely different from that of our bird, 



L. fusciolatd is a much larger bird, with an entirely different color of 

 the back. The wing formula is also sutiticiently different. 



In average size L. ochotensis* comes nearer to our bird, but its bill 

 is much shorter and the coloration is different. The young L. ochoten- 

 fih (Phil. Acad., No. 300GS, and U. S. Nat. T^lus., No."9G247), now before 

 me, are distinctly tawny above, and the yellow below is more inclining 

 to buif. There are structural differences besides, for both remiges and 

 rectrices are considerably broader in Jj. ochotensis, and the third pri- 

 mary, particularly, is much more curved near the tip. 



The possibility of lindmg a name among the several syuonyn)s of L. 

 oclioteusis, which in reality juight turn out to belong to our bird, has 

 been investigated, but without favorable result. 



* By this name 1 uuderstnud hero the bird now nsually so called, bnt lean not 

 refrain from reeordinjf my suspicion that two distinguishable forms are coniounded 

 under that name. I find on coniparison of Kamtchatkan and Japanese (iuoludiug 

 Kurilc) specimens, that the latter have a mucli shorter second primary and a consid- 

 erably more tawny color on tlie upper surface than the latter. I am inclined to 

 think that the Kamtchatkan specimens are identical with those collected by Mid- 

 deudortil' at Udskoj Ostroj;, and that their migration route from ami to Kamtchatkais 

 identical with that of CkcUdon tiflleri, at least foi- tlio lirst ])art of tlic route. They 

 would then be typical L. ochotctiKifi. Tiie Kurile and Japanese spccimeus arc tlieu 

 entitled to the name Locustella japunica (Cass;. 



