122 Nelson Names of Certain North American Birds. 



the underparts white, and the feet green. The ref -rences given 

 by Linnaeus with the original description, however, belong 

 mainly to this last mentioned bird. Gmelin follow >d in 1788 

 with a composite description under Pel mum* *nla in which he 

 includes Linnaeus' statement that the body is white and con 

 tradictory matter of his own, stating that the species is dark 

 brown with the underside of the body white. 



The bird with the dark brown upperparts and white lower- 

 parts was first named in 1783 by Boddaert, who called it Siila 

 leucogastra (Tabl. Plan. Enl. p. 57). Since then authors have 

 usually treated leucogaMra as a synonym of xald. This may have 

 originated from the error of Gmelin in confusing the two species 

 and perhaps even more probably from the references given by 

 Linnaeus which do not belong under the bird he describes. In any 

 case, when the application of an author's description is obvious 

 it is necessary to accept it and not his references to fix the name. 

 In this case it appears that the specific name wla should become 

 a synonym of piscator, and Sula leucogastra Boddaert be used for 

 the species which has so long gone under the name Sula sula. 



ACCIPITER VELOX PACiFicus (Lesson). 



In 1888 Mr. Ridgway described the western sharp-shinned 

 hawk as Accipiter velox rufilatus (Proc. IT. S. Nat. Mus., XI, p. 

 92) taking as the type a specimen from Fort Bridger, Wyoming. 

 In 1845, however, Lesson gives a good description of the male 

 western sharp-shinned hawk from specimens taken at Aca- 

 pulco, Guerrero, Mexico, and California, under the name 37.s>/.x 

 pacificus (Echo du Monde Savant, June 19, 1845, Col. 1086) so 

 that the western sharp-shinned hawk, if a recognizable form, 

 becomes Accipiter velox pacifism (Lesson). This bird occurs only 

 as a winter visitor to Acapulco for which reason the birds of 

 California may be taken as typical of this form. 



CATHARTES AURA (Linnseus). 



The common turkey buzzard of North America was named 

 by Linnseus in the 10th Edition of his Systema Naturae (p. 86, 

 1758). He called it Vultur aura and mentioned only a single 



