172 REPORT ON NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



RiDGWAY, Robert — Continued. 



exploration of tho western coast and southern extremity of Lower California, 

 in the interests of the National Museum, a considerable portion of his time 

 being spent at La Paz, on the eastern side of the peninsula. Among the birds 

 obtained at this locality was a single example of Swinhoe's wagtail (ifoiadHa 

 ocularis), a species belonging to eastern Asia, so that the individual in ques- 

 tion must in all probability have crossed the Pacific Ocean, perhaps aided 

 by some vessel bound toward our shores. The other, a Mexican species, tho 

 chestnut-headed yellow warbler, (Dendraca hryanti), first described in 1874, 

 Mr. Belding found to be a common inhabitant of the mangrove thickets skirt- 

 ing the Gulf shore. 



Description of several new races of American birds. 



(Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, v, pp. 9-15.) 



The new birds described in this article are (1) Meihriopterus curvirostris occi. 

 dentalis, from western Mexico ; (2) Mimus gilviis laivrencei, from southern 

 Mexico; (3) Merulajlavirostris graysotii, fiomtheTTesMavldslslanda; (4) Sia- 

 lia sialis guatemalce, from Guatemala ; (5) Chamcea fasciata henahawi, from 

 the interior of California; and (6) Perisoreus canadensis nigricapillus, from 

 Labrador. 



On the genera Harporhynchus, Cabanis, and Meihriopterus 



Reichenbach, with a description of a new genus of Mimince. 



(Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, v, pp. 43-46.) 



The purport of this paper is the definition of characters distinguishing two 

 genera which had been previously confounded. A new allied genus (Mimodes), 

 also related to Mimus, is instituted for the Harjmrhynchus graysoni Baird. 



Critical remarks on the tree creepers ( Certhia) of Europe and 



North America. 



(Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, V, pp. 111-116.) 



This paper, based upon extensive material in the National Museum, defines 

 the distinctive characters of several Pal^earctic and North American races 

 of Certhia familiaris, among which the following are described for the first 

 time: (1) C. familiaris britannica, from, the British Islands; (2) C. familiaris 

 montana, from the Rocky Mountains; and (3) C. familiaris occidentalis, from, 

 the Pacific coast of North America. 



Description of some new North American birds. 



(Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1882, v,pp. 343-346.) 



The species described are Catherpes mexicanus punctulatus, California ; Lopho- 

 phanes inornatns griseus. Middle Province of United States ; Geothlypis beldingi, 

 San Jos6 del Cabo, Lower California ; Rallus beldingi, Espiritu Santo IslandS) 

 Lower California, of which the types are all in National Museum collection. 



On an apparently new heron from Florida. 



(Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1, 1882, vii, pp. 1-6.) 



This article embodies areview of the question of dichromatism in Ardea occi 

 dentalis (first hinted at by the author in the Bulletin of the U. S. Geol. and 

 Geog. Survey of the Terr., 1, 1878, iv, pp. I -236), and also brings to notice 

 an allied dichromatic species, or race, from western Florida, named Ardea 

 wardi, in honor of its discoverer, Mr. C. W. Ward, of Pontine, Mich., who 

 generously furnished the facts and specimen upon which the new species 

 was based. 



