General Notes. 43 



recent writers the latter has been used, Strix funerea stands first on the 

 page, and as it thus has anteriority, should be adopted in place of Strix 

 ulula. The names of the two forms of the species will by this procedure 

 stand as : 



Surnia funerea funerea (Linnaeus) , 



Surnia funerea caparoch (Miiller). 



Harry C. Oberholser. 



PIRANGA ERYTHROMELAS VERSUS PIRANGA MEXICANA. 



The name Piranga erythr omelets which has long been used for the scarlet 

 tanager is much antedated by Loxia mexicana Linnaeus (Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 

 I, 1758, p. 172), applied undoubtedly to the same bird. Linnaeus (loc. cit.) 

 gives the following diagnosis and locality : 



" L[oxia] rubra, alis nigris. 



Habitat in America australi." 



He gives also a reference to Seba, whose description, though not long, is 

 accurate and perfectly applicable. 



This description (Locuplet. rer. natural, thesauri accur. descript. et icon, 

 artific. express., I, 1734, p. 101, t. 65, f. 1) is in full as follows : 

 " Avis, mexicana, grandis, rubra; passeris species. 



" Quae caput, thoracem, & dorsum ejus vestiunt, pennae sanguinei sunt 

 coloris ; dum pennae remiges & cauda, prorsus nigricant, rubedine tamen 

 aliqua supernam partem obtegente." 



Linnaeus in a later connection (Syst. Nat. ed. 12, I, 1766, p. 300) some 

 what amplifies his first account by describing the bird as " L. rubra, alis 

 caudaque nigris," and adding as a synonym the Coccothraustes mexicana of 

 Brisson (Ornith. Ill, 1760, p. 256). Brisson also cites Seba, and further 

 more gives a detailed description of his own that in all particulars of color 

 and dimensions agrees almost exactly with the bird now called Piranga 

 erythromelas, and with this alone. It might be mentioned that Salvin and 

 Godman long ago announced (Biol. Cent.-Am. Aves, I, 1886, p. 424) this 

 identification of Linnaeus' Loxia mexicana, but for reasons of their own 

 continued to use the name then current for the species Pyranga rubra. 

 There seems now, however, no reason for rejecting the exclusively pertinent 

 name given by Linnaeus, even though on a subsequent page (Syst. Nat. 

 ed. 10, I, 1758, p. 174) he uses the term Loxia mexicana for an entirely 

 different species undoubtedly Spiza americana (Gmelin) ! Our present 

 bird should therefore in future be called Piranga mexicana (Linnaeus). 



Harry C. Oberholser. 



THE NAMES OF THE PASSENGER PIGEON AND THE MOURN 

 ING DOVE. 



To those naturalists who, like the British, use the twelfth edition of 

 Linnaeus (1766) as the starting point of binomial nomenclature, the names 

 of the Passenger Pigeon and the Mourning Dove are clear and offer no 

 complications. Not so, however, to the Americans and others who start 



