658 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BX7LLETIN 221 



with blue pencil, while the word "intermedia" in Ridgway's hand appears on 

 the reverse side in the same blue pencil. 



A seventh, No. 62998, carries as its oldest label Ridgway's own, upon 

 which appears the red tab with which he distinguished type specimens in his 

 private collection. 



The eighth. No. 26572, has the word "intermedia" written in ink by Ridg- 

 way on the obverse side of the label; I assume that this identification was 

 made subsequently to description of intermedia, and that it was not one of 

 the original series. 



Two of the Fort Kenai birds (Nos. 58438 and 58439) now lie before me. 

 No. 58438 carries only a red type label, upon which the name and data have 

 been transcribed by William Palmer. The other, bearing an original label, 

 at no time, by anyone, has been identified as anything but gambelii! Thus, 

 although these skins had been available to Ridgway in 1873, he did not then 

 consider them representative of his intermedia, and accordingly they did not 

 become eligible for cotypeship. 



Another argmnent against the choice of a Fort Kenai bird as lectotype is 

 the fact that Ridgway in 1873 gave the Alaskan range of intermedia as "in 

 the interior," and in 1887 (Manual of North American birds, p. 416) as 

 "Breeding throughout Alaska (except coast east and south of the peninsula) ." 

 Either of these statements would rule out Fort Kenai as type locality, and the 

 second shows that as late as 1887 Ridgway had not yet claimed that his 

 intermedia occurred at Fort Kenai. 



It is very possible that some of the true cotypes listed above are repre- 

 sentative of Z. /. leucophrys rather than of gambelii, and thus that the series 

 should be still further reduced. 

 Zonotrichia leucophrys nuttalli Ridgway 

 Auk 16 (1) : 36, January 1899. 



78183. Adult male. Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County, California. En- 

 tered into the museum register on July 7, 1879. Collected by William 

 A. Cooper. Original number 52. 



Ridgway bestowed this name upon "the darker coast form" (his entire 

 description ! ) , which had been previously erroneously known to authors as 

 ^'gambelii." Since once again the author carelessly neglected to designate 

 a type specimen, the entire series of nuttalli then in the museum should pre- 

 sumably rank as cotypes! 



In 1901 Ridgway (Birds of North and Middle America, 1:343) states: 

 "type from Santa Cruz, mid. coast, California"; No. 78183 was about that 

 time equipped by William Palmer with a red type label. In fact, however, 

 its claims to typeship are no more cogent than those of numerous other 

 cotypes. 



Since the form was first properly diagnosed and given a type locality in 

 1901, it might be argued that the name should be cited from 1901 ! 



