( 142 ) 



hitherto hronght together. Besides this, wt' have had constant access to Goidd's 

 and Salvin's types in the British Museum. It is therefore natural that we have, in 

 some cases, come to conclusions different even from those of the latest authority, 

 ilr. Ridgway. In all, or nearly all such cases, we found that it has been the weight 

 fif our large luaterial which altered the decision. The instances where we deviate 

 from Ridgway among the most difficult grouj), the Frini/illidae (genus Geospi^a), 

 are not numerous. The various sjiecies of l'i/rof<'/jhalus described by Ridgway 

 could not be recognised, nor could we possibly separate the Certhideae from the 

 central group of islands. In the gemis Sula good work has been done by Harris' 

 party in collecting for the first time, ajipareutly, specimens of what had been called 

 Sida cyanops. It is not .S'. c>/anops, but the rare Sida ranegatn. The Galapagos 

 Islands are its breeding-place. 



Perhaps the most extraordinary discovery is the flightless Phalacroe.orax 

 harrisi Eothsch. Dr. Sharpe has placed it in a new genus which he called 

 Xannopterum, but we do not see the necessity of doing so. The Dionvdea breeding 

 on Hood Island, hitherto believed to be B. exulans, is /'. irroratu, formerly only 

 known from the type-specimen in the British Museum. 



We have for the first time used trinomials for the local forms of the Pnsseres. 

 If trinomials are used everywhere else, there is no reason why the birds of the 

 Galapagos Islands should V)e deprived of this most useful form of nomenclature. 

 In cases where certain individuals of representative forms are hardly, if at all, 

 distinguishable, but where a series is easily separable, the recognition of subspecies 

 is inevitable. Our material has generally left very little doubt to us, whether we 

 should treat a form as species or subspecies. In cases where we could not easily 

 decide, or where our material has misled us, we must trust to future explorations 

 for a modification or correction of our present arrangement. 



The advent of men has apparently not yet influenced the ornis of the Galapagos 

 to a great extent. It is only on Charles Island that we can confidently say that the 

 Xesom-mi/s fri/asciatus has disapjieared, and where probably at least one or two 

 thick-billed finches have become extinct. As the earliest settlement of men has 

 been on Charles Island, and as we know that they had no regard for the birds — 

 sailors, finding the tameuess of the birds strange and novel, used to take a cruel 

 pleasure in knockuig them down with sticks — we are probably right in ascribing 

 these disappearances merely to human influence. 



It is to be feared that the progress of gnano-digging and cultivation, and the 

 fact that cattle, goats, horses, asses, pigs, dogs and cats have become wild on 

 various islands (see Wolf & Baur in Ann^r. Xatiiralist, lf<01, p. 318), will influence 

 the status of the ornis ere long, and we must therefore consider it rather fortunate 

 that such large collections are already safely preserved, especially in the museums 

 of Tring, London, and Washington. 



V. 



THE BIRDS OF THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS. 



Genus NESOMIMUS Ridgw. 



This genus has been separated from Mimus on account of its longer and basally 

 more compressed bill and longer tarsus, but these characters are hardly sufficient 

 for generic separation, the longer tarsus especially being a very weak character. 



