General Notes. 51 



A note on the Florida Phoebe. 



Through the kindness of Mr. Outram Bangs of Boston, and Mr. C. J. 

 Maynard of West Newton, and through information received, in Utteris, 

 from Mr. William Palmer of Washington I am able to adjust so far as it 

 is possible, with all the data that there is any prospect of obtaining, the 

 relationships of the Florida Phoebe mentioned in "Notes on Various 

 Florida Birds" (Contr. N. Amer. Ornith., Vol. I., May 21, 1902, p. 30). 



In February, 1846, John Gundlach observed near Cardenas, Cuba, a 

 pair of Phoebes, probably, though he does not state so, shooting both 

 birds, as in his description he mentions peculiarities of both sexes. In 

 1850, Juan Lembeye, in his "Aves de la Isla de Cuba" (p. 41), included 

 the species Muscicapa fusca Gmel., describing carefully both plumage 

 and habits, evidently from the notes of Gundlach made in 1846 (see 'Pro- 

 logo,' p. 6), and from a specimen No. 169 in the "Col. of Gundl." Later 

 in 1852, Gundlach, in the Boston Journal of Natural History (Vol. VI, 

 p. 314), described, evidently from the same specimen or specimens, an in 

 sular race, Muscicapa lembeyei, giving as careful description and measure 

 ments as did Lembeye himself. 



It is evident therefore that Lembeye and Gundlach knew of only one 

 pair of Phoebes to have visited Cuba, and although that island has had 

 little extended ornithological investigation yet, recent collectors have 

 failed to record the species. Mr. Palmer writes me that on his late visit 

 to Cuba he saw a specimen of the Phoebe in the Gundlach museum [prob 

 ably the same No. 169] but that the "Gundlach cases were so made that 

 it was impossible to get at the birds." 



To recapitulate: It is evident from Lembeye's and Gundlach's de 

 scriptions that the specimen or specimens they had were either strag 

 glers from Florida or that the bird is a rare resident of Cuba, and for the 

 resident southern Florida Phcebe there is no alternative but to use Gund 

 lach's name, provided it is thought the form deserves to be recognized 

 at all. 



When I first examined Mr. Maynard 's series of specimens from Enter 

 prise, which show the brownish cast of plumage so often characteristic 

 of the peninsular birds, I thought the race one decidedly worth recog 

 nizing, but a further examination of specimens from Miami and else 

 where proves that this coloring is not constant, and careful measure 

 ments also show that the greater size of the Florida bird does not always 

 hold true. 



It may be well to mention now while the subject is under discussion, 

 that the type of Gundlach's lembeyei is without much doubt No. 169 in 

 the Gundlach museum in Cuba, an example probably taken at Cardenas 

 in February, 184Q. Reginald ffeber Howe, Jr. 



