THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
A further character of P. filamentosus noted is “ the oil-green colour of 
the under-parts.” Specimens from Australia and New Zealand have this 
same oil-green under-surface coloration, but this was ignored and the 
birds catalogued under P. carho. 
A third feature of “ the adult ” of P. filamentosus was given as “ the 
mottled feathers bordering the throat.” It will be observed that twenty 
specunens are recorded under that name, but of this number only three 
are recognised as adult. Under P. carho, nine examples from China and 
Japan are placed and three of these are marked adult. 
In the Naturalists’ Miscellany, Vol. XIII., pi. 529, 1802, Shaw and 
Nodder described Pelecanus sinensis. The figure given is of a brown bird 
with white throat and white breast marked with brown spots or splashes. 
Many of the immature specimens named by Ogilvie-Grant as P. filamentosus 
agree very closely with this figure and Shaw’s name should be utilised in 
preference to Ogilvie-Grant’s choice. Apparently the only reason why it 
was rejected was because the plate did not show the throat-feathering 
according to Ogilvie-Grant’s determination. As the plate was drawn about 
a hundred years before, when such details were not considered, that was 
no just cause for dismissal. When Ogilvie-Grant’s separative character is 
proved absolutely valueless, Shaw and Nodder’s name must be used. It 
is as certainly applicable as the name chosen. A curious action on Ogjlvie- 
Grant s part noticeably throughout the Catalogue was the upsetting of 
any established name on any pretext whatever ; in the case of PhcBthon 
he out-heroded Herod in his recognition of the Law of Priority, while here 
he selected P . filamentosus, though the bird had been known for thirty 
years, without a dissentient, as P. capillatus. The former was given in 
the text, the latter on the plate in the same work, hut the plates were 
published before the text and therefore had priority, according to Temminck 
himself. 
A complication would be introduced were two birds so nearly allied to 
each other as Grant’s P. carho and his P. filamentosus living together in China 
and Japan. I cannot see any differences save the mottled throat, and this I 
conclude is seasonal or juvenile. 
All the immature in brown plumage have white throats, while the three 
specimens catalogued by Ogilvie-Grant as adult P. filamentosus have the 
throat mottled with dark feathers. These also show “ filamentous ” white 
feathers on the sides of the necks ; the dates are February and April. The 
bills in these birds are of the flaky surface appearance associated with young 
birds. Other birds from China have no dates, but have fully adult bills 
and heavy white neck feathering associated with P. carho. 
