40 BIKBS. OS THE JAPANESE EMPIKE. 



of Picus leztconottts, Strix uralensis, Strix brachyotus, and Nucifraga 

 caryocatactes. 



There are several instances in which Japanese species resemble 

 European species more closely than they resemble their nearest 

 Asiatic allies : for example. Accentor rubidus and Accentor modularis, 

 Garrulus japonicus and Garrulus glandarius, Acredula trivirgata and 

 Acredula rosea, &c. 



The Coramon Jay {Garrulus glandarius) ranges across Europe, 

 north of the Mediterranean, as far east as the valley of the Volga. 

 In the valley of the Kama it is said to intergrade with the Siberian 

 Jay [Garrulus firawfiJ^i), "which ranges eastwards from the Ural Moun- 

 tains across Southern Siberia to Yezzo, the north island of Japan. 

 In Southern Japan it is replaced by the Japanese Jay [Garrulus japo- 

 nicus), a species so nearly allied to the European form that Schlegel 

 only admitted it to be subspecifically distinct. The young in first 

 plumage of the European Jay differ very slightly from their parents ; 

 but those of the Siberian Jay are less streaked on the crown, resem- 

 bling in this respect the adults of the Chinese Jay. There can, how- 

 ever, be little doubt that the Japanese Jay is more nearly related to 

 the Siberian than to the Chinese species. The three semitropical 

 forms of the Common Jay are, Garrulus bispecularis from the Hima- 

 layas, Garrulus sinensis from China, and Garrulus taivanus from 

 Formosa. These three species differ from the semi-arctic Jays in 

 having no white on the outer webs of the secondaries. These facts 

 can only be explained by the assumptions that Formosa received its 

 Jay from China, and that Hondo received its Jay from Siberia. 

 These assumptions also account for the absence (so far as is known) 

 of a Jay on the Loo-Choo Islands. To explain the distribution of 

 the two species on the Japanese islands, we can only assume that 

 when the Jay which formerly ranged across the Palsearctic Region 

 was driven southwards, the island of Yezzo was temporarily incapaci- 

 tated from serving as a residence for Jays, and that it remained with- 

 out a Jay until the Siberian Jays in their changed climate had differ- 

 entiated into Garrulus brandti, which eventually emigrated to Yezzo. 

 The Japanese Jay is not known to intergrade with the Siberian Jay, 

 and can always be distinguished from the Common Jay by its black 

 lores. In spite of its superficial resemblance to the Common Jay, 

 the Japanese Jay is probably more nearly allied to the Siberian Jay, 

 inasmuch as the colour of the crown varies with age much more than 

 the colour of the lores. 



