INHABITING THE PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO. 239 



1 Nycticorax goisagi, Temm. PI. Col. 582, adult, "Japan" (1835); Faun. Japon. p. 116, pi. 70: 



Bp. Consp. ii. p. 138, no. 122, juv. ex Japan; Sclilegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Ard,ea, 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 melanolo]}ha, Eaffles) is the same as that which inhabits Japan 

 {Nycticorax goisagi, Temm.). Professor Schlegel {I. c.) keeps them distinct, whereas Mr. 

 Swinhoe, in his last list of the Birds of China (Z. c), unites them. Professor Schlegel's 

 matei'ials 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 diiferential character possessed by G. melanolophus 

 is its black crown and long black crest, each plume in the immature bird (Nycticorax 

 limnopMlax, Temm.) having a bold subterminal white irregular mark. In no authentic 

 Japanese indinduals do the crown and crest seem to be black; in the adult 

 they are of a rich purple chestnut. Prince Bonaparte {I. c.) 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, as the young. They are both 

 stated to be " ex Japan, nee 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 (I.e.) as possessing a black crests Mr. Blyth (Ibis,1865, p.38) mentions 

 that he has seen A. melanolo])ha 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 [o]). cit. 1867, p. 173), in consequence of some obsers'ations 

 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 [torn. 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. 

 pi. 70, immat., and Mus. Pays-Bas, I. c). The facts known, bearmg 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) 



' Mr. Blyth (I. c.) considers that A. melanohpha, Raffles, is the young ; but Sir Stamford's description agrees 

 best with the adult plumage. 



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