' 1920 J General Notes 311 



Some North American Birds Obtained in Japan. — Of North 

 American birds which stand recorded in the literature as having been 

 obtained in Japan, there are: The Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Tringites 

 subruficollis (Vieill.), once obtained in the Province ofOwari (Stejneger, 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. XVI, 1893, p. 616); the Short-billed Gull, 

 Larus canus brachyrhynchus Richardson, obtained in the Kurile Islands 

 (Dresser, Man. Pal. Bds., p. 830); and Cassin's Auklet, Ptychoramphus 

 aleuticus (Pall.), which occurred also in the Kurile Islands (Uchida, "Ni- 

 honchorui Zusetsu," Vol. I, p. 301). To the writer are known three more 

 cases of North American birds having been met with as stragglers in 

 Japan. They are as follows: 



Mareca americana (Gmelin). Baldpate. — A nearly adult male of 

 this duck was obtained December 4, 1908, in the duck-decoy pond owned 

 by me at Haneda, between Tokyo and Yokohama (Kuroda, Zool. Mag. 

 Tokyo, Vol. XXI, 1909, p. 145). A second example, an adult male, of 

 the same species, was captured at the same pond, January 16, 1918 (Kur- 

 oda, "Tori," Vol. II, No. 6, 1918, p. 52). 



This remarkable duck seems to occur in Japan only as a rare straggler 

 in migration, mixed in flocks of the European Widgeon (M. penelope). 

 It is said that it is occasionally captured in the neighborhood of Tokyo. 

 I have not yet seen a female example of this duck obtained in this country. 

 Dr. Stejneger (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1887, p. 136) has recorded that a 

 single straggler of the species was picked up dead on a sand-dune in Bering 

 Island, and Dresser (Man. Pal. Bds., 1903, p. 616) has mentioned that 

 the species occurred two or three times in Great Britain. 



Nettion crecca carolinense (Gmelin). Green-winged Teal.— A 

 fully adult male, with white crescentic bands on each side of the chest, 

 was obtained at Haneda in the same pond mentioned above, February 17, 

 1916 (Kuroda, Zool. Mag. Tokyo, Vol. XXVIII, 1916, p. 413). This 

 is the only instance known to me of this teal having occurred in Japan. 

 It is probably a rarer straggler in this country than the American Widgeon. 

 According to Dresser (Man. Pal. Bds., 1903, p. 612) the teal in question 

 had been obtained twice at least in Great Britain. 



Xeraa sabini (J. Sabine). Sabine's Gull. — A male of this gull in 

 complete summer plumage was collected on the coast of Kesen-numa Bay 

 in Prov. Rikuzen, November, 1909 (Kuroda, Zool. Mag. Tokyo, Vol. 

 XXIV, 1912, p. 55). This is the only case known of its occurrence in 

 Japan. 



This Gull like the two species of duck already mentioned is properly 

 an American species, of which some individuals are known to have been 

 met with as accidental stragglers in Europe. Thayer and Bangs (Proc. 

 N. Eng. Zool. Club, Vol. V, 1914, p. 11) have noted that it was not ob- 

 served on the Arctic coast of Siberia, while Koren says he has examined 

 a skin of the species in possession of a native at Nijni Kolymsk, East 

 Siberia. — Nagamichi Kuroda, Tokyo, Japan. 



