INHABITING THE PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO. 239 
? Nycticorax goisagi, Temm. Pl. Col. 582, adult, “ Japan” (1835); Faun. Japon. p. 116, pl. 70: 
Bp. Consp. ii. p. 138, no. 122, juv. ex Japan; Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Ardea, p. 54. 
? Gorsachius melanolophus (Raffles), G. R. Gray, Hand-list, no, 10177, “ Japan.” 
It is still a matter of some doubt whether the species of the genus Gorsachius which 
occurs in Ceylon, Tenasserim, the Sunda islands, the Malayan peninsula, and the 
Philippines (Ardea melanolopha, Raflles) is the same as that which inhabits Japan 
(Nycticorax goisagi, Temm.). Professor Schlegel (/.c.) keeps them distinct, whereas Mr. 
Swinhoe, in his last list of the Birds of China (J. c.), unites them. Professor Schlegel’s 
materials for comparison consisted of four Japanese individuals, two from Java, one from 
Bangka, and one from the Philippines, while Mr. Swinhoe appears to have obtained his 
in Formosa only. The most marked differential character possessed by G'. melanolophus 
is its black crown and long black crest, each plume in the immature bird (Nycticorax 
limnophilax, Temm.) haying a bold subterminal white irregular mark. In no authentic 
Japanese individuals do the crown and crest seem to be black; in the adult 
they are of a rich purple chestnut. Prince Bonaparte (/.¢.) described two indivi- 
duals: one, contained in the Paris Museum, having a black crest, he noted as the 
adult; the other, with the head and nape bright chestnut, asthe young. They are both 
stated to be “ex Japan, nec inss. Philippensibus.” They are certainly examples of adult 
birds; for the immature plumage of the Archepelagic, the Formosan, and the Japanese 
races have been fully described. The type of Ardea melanolopha is described by Sir 
Stamford Raffles (/.c.) as possessing a black crest’. Mr. Blyth (Ibis, 1865, p.58) mentions 
that he has seen A. melanolopha from Malacca, Arakan, Ceylon, and the Philippines, 
that the adult is similar to G. goisagi, but has a long black-crested pileus at all ages, 
while G. goisagi from Japan has no black on the crest at any age. This opinion Mr. 
Blyth subsequently modified (op. cit. 1867, p. 173), in consequence of some observations 
of Mr. Swinhoe (op. cit. 1866, p. 403) on the seasonal changes of the crest-feathers, 
based on two adult specimens sent from Formosa. Mr. Swinhoe speaks positively of 
the black crest being present in the summer dress, and adds :—* In winter the crest 
seems to fall, leaving the head smooth and plain chestnut, instead of being capped and 
crested with cinereous-black plumes.” A valuable and detailed account given by Mr. 
Swinhoe (tom. cit. p. 123) of the Formosan species when young (nearly full-grown) 
agrees with the Archipelagic bird at a similar age. This state of plumage is not found, 
or at least has not been described as occurring, in the Japan species (cf. Faun. Jap. 
pl. 70, immat., and Mus. Pays-Bas, /.c.). The facts known, bearing on the phases of 
plumage peculiar to the Japanese and the South-Asiatic races, induce me to hesitate 
before adopting Mr. Swinhoe’s views. As a fact, the Malayan species (G. melanolophus) 
1 Mr. Blyth (7. c.) considers that A. melanolopha, Raffles, is the young; but Sir Stamford’s description agrees 
best with the adult plumage. 
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