A.-BIRDS COLLECTED IN JAPAN. 



1. ORDER RAPTOEES.— Rapacious Birds. 



MILVUS MELANOTIS, Temminck. 



Milvus melanotis, Temm. & Schleg. Fauna. Japonica, Aves, p. 14, (185'Oi) 



Falco cheela, Latham Ind. Orn., 1 p. 14, (1790)? 



Milvus govinda, Sykes Proc. Zool. Soc, London, 1832, p. 81 ? 



The Japanese Kite. 



Temm. and Schleg. Faun. Jap. Birds, pi. 5. 



Hardw. and Gray, 111. Indian Zoology, pi. IS? 



Gould, Birds of Asia, part 4, pi. 1 ? 



A single specimen in the collection of the Expedition is from Hakodadi, and is in young 

 plumage. 



This species is nearly related to the kite of India and other countries of Asia, usually known 

 as Milvus govinda, Sykes, and which is probably the same as Falco cheela, Latham. The com- 

 parison that it has been in our power to make with the specimen now before us, and with others 

 from India in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia, has not con- 

 vinced us of the absolute identity of the species, and for the present, therefore, we regard them 

 as distinct. 



Mr. Heine's note on this bird is as follows : 



"Shot at Hakodadi during a fishing excursion, towards the upper end of the bay, where he 

 was hovering for some time around the party, and flew in long, easy stretches, with very grace- 

 ful motion. He came, repeatedly, very near the men who were hauling the seine. The stomach 

 contained the remains of what appeared to have been a frog." 



ACCIPITER GULARIS, (Temminck.) 



Astur gularis, Temm. & Schleg. Faun. Jap. Aves, p. 5, (1850.) 



Temm. & Schleg. Faun. Japon. Aves, pi. 2. 



Specimens from Hakodadi. This species appears to be peculiar to the Japanese islands, and 

 is, so far as we can see, quite distinct from the Indian species, Accipiter virgatus, Temm., with 

 which it has been considered identical. 



The young bird is darker above than represented in the figure of the adult male in the plate 

 in Fauna Japonica, above cited, and has the transverse bars on the under parts much less 

 regular and lighter colored than in the figure of the female in the same plate. 



We have no information relating to this species. 



