35 



23. ProcellariapelagicaLmn. Stormy Petrel. Usually given 

 as occurring oft* the coast, but Dr. Brewer doubts its right to a place 

 among New England birds, since he has not been able to learn that a 

 specimen has been taken (Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XVII, 1877, 

 453). 



24. Puflmus anglorum Temm. Mank's Shearwater. Com- 

 monly given as more or less frequent off the coast in winter, but 

 Dr. Brewer (Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XVII, 1875, 453) claims that 

 it has never beeu taken, and that it is not even a North American 

 bird. 



The Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) has been commonly given 

 as a rare winter visitant. Dr. Brewer says it has been improperly 

 included as a bird of New England and that "its right to be regarded 

 even as North American is also questioned" (Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. 

 Hist., XVII, 1875, 453). He has since shown that all the references 

 to its capture in North America (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, III, Apr., 

 1878, 52) are erroneous, as is now very generally conceded. 



4. Hypothetical and doubtful Species. 



1. Myiodioctes Diinutus Baird. Small-headed Flycatcher. 

 Dr. Brewer retains this species as a bird of Massachusetts on the 

 ground that Nuttall "states that Mr. Charles Pickering obtained a 

 specimen of this bird many years ago, near Salem, Mass., and that he 

 [Nuttall] had himself also seen it in the same State, at the approach 

 of winter." Dr. Brewer further refers to a specimen "supposed to 

 be of this species," and so identified by Mr. Audubon, that he once 

 obtained in Itoxbury, but admits that, as Audubon afterwards made no 

 mention of it, the presumption is that he was mistaken as to the iden- 

 tity of the specimen. No specimen of this supposed species is extant, 

 and it is only known from the descriptions and figures given long 

 since by Wilson and Audubon. According to the latter the original 

 locality was Kentucky. I agree with Dr. Coues that the species is one 

 hardly entitled to recognition, and I prefer to discard it, for the pres- 

 ent, as a bird of Massachusetts. (See Baird, Brewer and Ridgway's 

 Hist. North Am. Birds, I, 1874, 31(5.) 



2. Empidonax pygmseus JSIinot. 9 "Pygmy Flycatcher." Only 

 "caught sight of" "in some shrubbery" "near Boston" by our young 

 author, who "watched it for about three minutes," and then proceeded 

 to describe it as a new species! No characters are given, by which it 

 can be distinguished from any of the species of Empidonax, and those 

 are half conjectural. The presumption of adding a "new species" on 



•Land Birds and Game Birds of New England, 1877, 290. 



