44 General Notes. 



with the tenth edition (1758), for here Linnaeus unquestionably included 

 both birds in the references under his Columba macroura. 



The A. 0. U. committee on nomenclature and American ornithologists 

 generally have of late years used this name for the Mourning Dove, and 

 have called the Passenger Pigeon by the name that first appeared in the 

 twelfth edition Columba migratoria Linn. In my opinion, however, this 

 is hardly correct. 



Linnaeus' Columba macroura was based on Edwards p. 15, t. 15, and 

 Catesby p. 23, t. 23. Edwards' bird, carefully described and well figured, 

 was of course a Mourning Dove, but it carne from the West Indies, and 

 Edwards tells us, "The Figure of this Bird shews it of its natural Bigness." 

 Measuring the various parts and comparing the results with specimens, I 

 find it altogether too small for the continental form of the Mourning Dove, 

 and to agree very well with the small form of Cuba (and other islands of 

 the Greater Antilles?) which has lately been named Zenaidura macroura 

 bdla by Palmer and Riley. The reference to Catesby applies wholly to 

 the Passenger Pigeon and the plate shows a fine adult male. 



Now as all Linnaeus' references were given chronologically it matters 

 not which came first, and the important question is from which of these 

 two distinct species, confused under one name, did Linnaeus take his brief 

 diagnosis and his " Habitat." In this instance it is plain. Linnaeus' 

 diagnosis reads " pectore purpurascente," and he also says " Habitat, in 

 Canada : hybernat in Carolina," both directly from Catesby, and neither 

 having anything whatever to do with Edwards. 



In the twelfth edition Linnaeus dropped Columba macroura, called the 

 Passenger Pigeon Columba migratoria, the Carolina Mourning Dove Co 

 lumba carolinensis, and named the bird of Edwards' plate No. 15 Columba 

 marginata. 



It is therefore my opinion that we who stand by the tenth edition must 

 arrange the names of these Columbse as follows: 



Ectopistes macrourus (Linn.) 



Passenger Pigeon. 

 Columba macroura Linn., S. N. ed. 10, p. 164, 1758. 



Zenaidura carolinensis carolinensis (Linn.) 



Carolina Mourning Dove. 

 Columba carolinensis Linn., S. N. ed. 12, p. 286, 1766. 



Zenaidura carolinensis marginata (Linn.) * 

 West Indian Mourning Dove. 



Columba marginata Linn., S. N. ed. 12, p. 286, 1766. 



Outram Bangs. 



* As to this latter name's supplanting Zenaidura carolinensis bella (Palmer and Riley) 

 I can not help feeling regret that a good modern name founded on a bird from a definite 

 region should give way to an old one without definite type locality. But I can see no 

 help for it. Edwards distinctly says his bird was from the West Indies, and figures a 

 very small example, and as the small size of the Cuban Mourning Dove is about its only 

 distinctive character, I am afraid the Columba marginata Linn, must be the name by 

 which it shall be known. 



