GO JOURNAL OF THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES VOL. U, NO. 3 



Pisohia ruficollis (Pallas) is considered valid, and sufficient to warrant the 

 inclusion of the species in the North American list. The Frazar oyster- 

 catcher, Haematopus frazari, proves to be a subspecies of Haemaiopus palliatus, 

 not, as commonly supposed, a full species. Nearly all the recently separated 

 North and Middle American su]3Species of shore-birds are suppressed as 

 insufficiently distinct for recognition. Three new subspecies are herein 

 described: Pagolla wilsonia heldingi from La Paz, Lower California; Pagolla 

 wilsonia cinnamomina from vSabanilla, Columbia; and Sterna anaetheta 

 nelsoni from Sihuatnejo, Guerrero, Mexico. Harry C. Oberholser. 



ORNITHOLOGY. — Description of a wkippoorwill from Porto Rico. Alex- 

 ander Wetmore. Proc. Biol. vSoc. Wash. 32: 2.3.5-238. December 

 31, 1919. 



A whippoorwill from the island of Porto Rico appears to belong to a 

 new species, and is here named Setochalcis noctitherus. It is most closely 

 allied to Setochalcis vocifera vocifera, but differs in its shorter wing and certain 

 color characters of the female. Bones of this species have been found in 

 cave deposits on the island of Porto Rico and the species is now probably 

 extinct. Harry C. Oberholser. 



ORNITHOLOGY. — Description of a new subspecies of Pipilo fuscus. Harry 

 C. Oberholser. Condor 21: 210-211. September 30, 1919. 

 A series of Towhees from the middle portion of the peninsula of Lower 

 California belongs to an undescribed subspecies which may bear the name 

 Pipilo fuscus aripolius. Though occupying a geographic position inter- 

 mediate between Pipilo fuscus senicula of northern Lower California and 

 Pipilo fuscus albigulus of the Cape San Lucas region, this new race differs 

 from the latter in its longer tail, and in its darker and more grayish colora- 

 tion. It is of considerable interest since it establishes direct and complete 

 intergradation between Pipilo fuscus senicula and Pipilo fuscus albigulus, 

 and shows that these birds are but subspecifically related. This fact makes 

 necessary the reduction of Pipilo crissalis and its races to subspecies of 

 Pipilo fuscus. H. C. O. 



ORNITHOLOGY. — The bird rookeries of the Tortugas. Paul BarTsch. 

 Smithsonian Report for 1917: 469-500. Pis. 1-38. 1919. 

 The small group of keys that compose the Tortugas is situated some 65 

 miles west of Key West, Florida. These keys are of much ornithological 

 interest since they furnish a breeding place for large numbers of water birds, 

 particularly terns. A census of the birds on these islands taken July 19-31, 

 1917, shows 32,810 individuals of 19 species present, although only Sterna 

 fuscata, Anous stolidus stolidus, Sternula antillarum antillarum, and Sterna 

 dougalli breed here. A list of all the birds hitherto found on the islands 

 totals 129. While no land birds nest here this list is of interest as showing 

 that the Tortugas are a good pausing place for north and south bound mi- 

 grants. The 38 half-tone plates represent chiefly various water birds, their 

 nests, eggs, and young. Harry C. Oberholser. 



ORNITHOLOGY. — Birds observed on the Florida Keys and the southern 

 end of the mainland of Florida in 191Q. Paul BarTSCH. Year Book 

 of the Carnegie Institution 18: 205-210. 1920. 



Daily notes on the birds of the Florida Keys and southern Florida are 



