70 
Dauria; and according to Taczanowski (Faun. Orn. Sib. Orient, p. 188) “ a flock of about twenty 
dropped on the island of Askold late last May (1877). The flrst day they were so wearied that they 
could be easily approached, but the following day they became so shy that it was impossible to get 
within gunshot range, and on the third day they disappeared.” 
It is found in Manchuria, the Corea, and China, and Blakiston includes it in his ‘Amended List 
of the Birds of Japan ’ with a query, but there does not appear to be any record of a specimen having 
been obtained there. Taczanowski states that it is a common summer resident in Corea. Swinhoe 
speaks of it as being very rare in Amoy ; and Pere David states that “ at Pekin it is rare, but common 
in the central provinces of China and found wherever there are groves of large trees, but it leaves 
these regions when the heat becomes great and w^hen insects, on which it feeds, are less numerous.” 
According to Mr. Styan, “ it arrives at Foochow towards the end of April, and leaves towards the 
end of September or beginning of October.” 
It inhabits Cochin China, Siam, the Malay Peninsula, and the islands in the Malay Archipelago 
as far as the Halmahera group, where, according to Count Salvador!, it meets the Pacific form 
{JE. jjaciJicus). I have examined specimens from Java, Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines, Celebes, &c. 
Lieut. Kelham, who met with it in the Malay Peninsula, writes [1. c.) as follows:—“ This Poller 
appears to be distributed throughout the country, but is particularly plentiful among the virgin 
forests of Perak. I hardly like to say it is nocturnal in its habits ; still it is rarely met with during 
the heat of the day; but in the country round Kwala Kangsar, Perak, I frequently saw it of an 
evening when on my way home after a day in the jungle; it was usually perched on the upper 
branches of some tree, from which it made short flights into the air in pursuit of insects. The first 
one I shot was only winged, and, turning on its back and uttering harsh screams, it fought most 
savagely with my dog.” Wallace obtained it in Java, Raffles in Sumatra, and Rajah Brooke, 
Mr. Whitehead, and Messrs. Ussher and Treacher in Borneo ; and in the Philippines it has been 
obtained by many collectors, and appears to be common. According to Mr. Whitehead, it is resident 
in the latter islands, and there are specimens in the Tweeddale collection obtained at all seasons of the 
year. It certainly breeds there, as I have a young bird, barely fledged, obtained by Mr. A. H. Everett. 
In the Sulu Archipelago, however, according to Dr. Guillemard, it does not appear to be common. 
I have examined three specimens from Celebes which agree closely with examples from the Philip¬ 
pines, but have not had an opportunity of examining a specimen of the present species from the 
Halmahera group, where, according to Salvador!, it meets the eastern form. 
Dr. Sharpe (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1890, pp, 550-552, and Cat. Brit. Mus. vol. xvii.) separates 
Eurystomus orientalis into three species— E. orientalis, E. Icetior, and E. calonyx, but in this 
view I cannot in the least acquiesce, for the reasons which I have already given (Ibis, 1891, 
pp. 99-102). The chief distinctive character, as given by Dr. Sharpe, is the amount of blue on the 
tail and the secondaries ; but, as I show^ed in a table of the specimens I had examined from various 
localities, these characteristics are so irregular that they cannot be relied on; and as specimens I have 
since examined fully confirm my views as then stated, I have no hesitation in consigning Dr. Sharpe’s 
names of E. Imtior and E. colonyx to the limbo of synonyms, where they justly belong. 
There is no doubt that there is great individual variation in this species wherever it is found, 
and the only question is whether it would not be more advisable to unite Eurystomus ^acificus with 
the present species rather than to still further complicate the synonymy by splitting E. orientalis into 
three species. Where the ranges of E. orientalis and E. 'pacificiis meet there are certainly inter¬ 
mediate specimens to be found, but further east and in Australia the eastern species alone is to be 
met with, and shows no tendency towards E. orientalis^ and for that reason I have deemed it expedient 
