abstracts: ornithoIvOGY 557 



forms the connecting link between Junco oreganus thurberi of California, 

 and Junco oreganus townsendi of the San Pedro Martir Mountains in 

 Lower California, and indicates that the latter is, without doubt, a 

 subspecies. Confined as it is to this single group of mountains and 

 possessed of sufficiently distinctive characters, it is found to be sub- 

 specifically distinct from all the other known forms of the genus and 

 is, therefore, named Junco oreganus pontilis. H. C. O. 



ORNITHOLOGY. — Fourth annual list of proposed changes in the 



A.O. U. check list of North American birds. Harry C. Obe;rholser. 



Auk 36: 266-273. 1919. 



The Fourth Annual list of proposed additions and changes made for 



zoological reasons in the names of North American birds includes 



everything pertinent up to December 31, 19 18, inclusive. The total 



number of additions and changes amount to 51, the additions being 26 



subspecies, 2 species, i subgenus, and i genus. The rejections and 



eliminations from the list total 19, of which the eliminations of subspecies 



amount to 5, species 2, and genera 2. This leaves a net gain of 21 species 



and subspecies. H. C. O. 



ORNITHOLOGY. — A revision of the subspecies of the white-collared 

 kingfisher, Sauropatis chloris (Boddaert). Harry C. Oberholser. 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 55: 351-395. 1919. 

 Birds allied to Sauropatis chloris present a difficult problem to the 

 systematist, chiefly because of the great amount of variation, sexual, 

 seasonal, and individual, in both size and color. They seem to rep- 

 resent a genus distinct from Halcyon, in which group they have usually 

 been placed. Most of them are subspecies of Sauropatis chloris, al- 

 though a number now thus regarded have heretofore been considered 

 distinct species. As here understood the species Satiropatis chloris 

 ranges from the Philippine Islands, India, and Abyssinia, south to 

 Java and northern Australia, and east to the Fiji Islands. The number 

 of subspecies here recognized is 24, and it is interesting to note that of 

 these only six, including three found in Australia, are continental in 

 distribution. Each is treated more or less at length, and in most cases, 

 with the addition of tables of measurements. The following new sub- 

 species are described: Sauropatis chloris palmeri from Java; Sauropatis 

 chloris azela from Engano Island, western Sumatra; Sauropatis chloris 

 chloroptera from Simalur Island, western Sumatra; Sauropatis chloris 

 amphiryta from Nias Island, western Sumatra; and Sauropatis chloris 

 hyperpontia from Vat6 Island in the New Hebrides group. H. C. O. 



