NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 231 



Pelidna pusilla, Bonaparte, Comp. List, 1838, 50. Gosse, Birds Jamaica, 



1847, 348. 

 Tringa (Tringa) pusilla, Bonaparte, Comp. Speech. 1827, 62. 

 Tringa Wilsoni, Nuttall, Manual, 1834, ii. 121. Cooper and Suckley, Nat. 



Hist. Wash. Terr. I860, 240. Cassin, Pr. A. N. S. 1860, xiii. 196. 

 Tringa (Actodromas) Wilsoni, Cassin, Gen. Rep. 1858, 721. 



Until very recently, great confusion has prevailed among the smaller Sand- 

 pipers ; and even now, though the species are pretty well ascertained, the 

 proper name applied to each, and their synonomy, are points which are not yet 

 definitely settled. With regard to no name, however, has there been so much 

 difficulty as to that of Tringa pusilla Linn., the proper locating of which has 

 ever been a disputed point. Most authors have referred it to the bird which 

 Wilson, in 1813, (Am. Orn. ut supra,) designated by that name, and which 

 was subsequently, in 1834, dedicated to that naturalist by Nuttall, (Man. Orn, 

 ut supra.) Audubon, in all his works, Gray, in his genera, and Bonaparte, 

 in his earlier works, adopted the name of pusilla for the present bird. As 

 early as 1825, however, Bonaparte was aware that the T. pusilla of Linnseus 

 was not the bird that Wilson gave under that name ; for, in his observations 

 on Wilson's Nomenclature, pages 88, 89, on the subject of Tringa semipalmata, 

 Wils., he says, "Several species have been confounded together under the 

 name of T. pusilla; and although the present " (7*. semipalmata, Wils.) " is the 

 real species," &c. In 1858, Cassin (Gen. Rep. page 725) proved pretty con- 

 clusively that the T. pusilla of Linnaeus, based upon the T. cinclus domini- 

 censis minor of Brisson, is really the Ereunetes petrijicatus of Illiger, though he 

 does not change Illigers specific name. This, however, he has reoently done 

 in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy, (xii. 195, I860,) where he 

 gives the bird as E. pusillus. 



The name of pusilla, then, being exploded for the species now under con- 

 sideration, the question arises what specific name is to be applied to it. Later 

 authors have mostly taken that of Wilsoni, given to the species in 1834, by 

 Nuttall, who describes its habits so accurately that there can be no doubt as 

 to what bird he has reference. But the claims of " Le tringa maringouin," 

 Tringa minutilla of Vieillot (Nouv. Diet ut supra) to be the present speoies, 

 appear to have been overlooked, or at least not generally conceded. Brewer, 

 indeed, in his edition of Wilson, in 1840, quotes it, and Cassin, in the General 

 Report in 1858, gives it as a synonym, but both with a query. But that 

 Tringa minutilla really refers to the present species, there can be, I think, no 

 reasonable doubt. Vieillot, page 466 of the Nouv. Diet., says of it, " Le noni 

 que j'ai conserve a cet oiseau est celui sous lequel il est connu dans nos colo- 

 nies de l'Amerique, et qui lui a ete impose d'apres sa petite taille ;" and after 

 a description which applies well, he continues " II a des rapports avec le 

 tringa minuta de Leisler," and adds, speaking of its habits, " Comme les trin- 

 gas becos se comportent de me me, il est resulte qu'on les a confondus ensem- 

 ble." The description, especially with reference to size ("quatre pouces dix 

 lignes ") and to the length and proportions of the bill, (" noir, tres grele, et 

 long de neuf lignes ; les tarses de la meme longuer, ") will apply to no other 

 species. Another evidence that this description has reference to the Actodro- 

 mas Wilsoni, is the fact that the author recognizes Tringa semipalmata, Wils. 

 " Le tringa demipalme " as a totally distinct species. What the " tringa beco, 

 Tringa pusilla, Lath.," of page 452 of the same work, refers to, is rather diffi- 

 cult to determine. Vieillot refers to the Am. Orn. plate 37, fig 4, which is 

 Tringa pusilla of Wilson ; but also quotes Brisson's "petite Alouette-de-mer 

 de Saint-Dominque " which is Ereundes petrificatus of the General Report. 

 The description, however, applies best to the latter, which it may be well to 

 consider it. 



From the foregoing considerations, therefore, I cannot but adopt the specific 

 name of minutilla, which has priority over Wilsoni, at least until weightier 



1861.] 



