262 Mr. W. E. Brooks on some 



I have not yet become reconciled to the trinomial theory, 

 nor have I seen any use for it. However, in the present 

 case the idea of any connection between the two sj)ecies is 

 quite out of the question. I have examined a good number 

 of P. horealis and have compared it with P. wanthodryas in 

 different collections, and I never could confound the small, 

 dull, rather dark-toned P. borealis, with its minute Acro- 

 cephalus-like first primary, with the large bright-coloured 

 green-and-yellow P. xanthodrTjas, with its very ample first 

 primary. I have not one of the latter by me now, but, as 

 well as I can remember, the bill was much longer and of a 

 somewhat diflFerent form. 



Of P. xanthodryas, Swinhoe says : — '^ This is the largest 

 Phyllopneuste I have met with in China. It approaches P. 

 coronata nearest in size of bill, but has no coronal stripe and 

 the underparts are much yellower, Fi'om P. sylvicultrix 

 [i. e. P. horealis] it is easily recognized bv its much superior 

 size, its yellow underparts, its more robust claws, the larger 

 size of the first primary, and the greater difference between 

 the second and third.'^ (P. Z. S. 1863, p. 296.) 



As Swinhoe had nearly 200 examples of P. borealis from 

 Amoy for comparison, he was well able to distinguish this 

 bird from P. xanthodryas. 



Dr. Stejneger says : — " Material which has come to hand 

 since I wrote my ' Results of Ornithological Explorations in 

 Kamtschatka, &c./ and especially the fine specimens in 

 Mr. Henson's collection, as well as the examples obtained b}^ 

 Mr. Petersen at Nagasaki, have considerably shaken my 

 confidence in Phyllopseustes xanthodryas as a good species. 

 Three characters are given as distinctive of this form, 

 viz. (1) general large size ; (2) longer first (rudimentary) 

 primary ; and (3) more vivid yellow colour of the underparts. 

 Several of the thirty-one specimens befoi-e me can be thus 

 distinguished, but other specimens will show only one or two 

 of these characters in all possible combinations. Thus U. S. 

 Nat. Mus. nos. 89158 and 106607 (Bering Island), and 

 Petersen's no. 28 (Kiusiu^ Japan), are Ph. xanthodryas so 

 far as the first primary is concerned, but Ph. borealis 



