488 Letters, Announcements , S^c. 



identification, for the differences in the plumage are too great 

 to be merely varietal/^ 



From the verbal account of the bird sent by letter, Mr. 

 Ridgway thought it might prove to be the rare Buteo cooperi ; 

 but on taking it to Washington it has been ascertained to 

 be Buteo albicaudatus of Vieillot, a not uncommon bird in 

 Mexico, but never before taken within our territory. 



It also tui'ns out that the Scops found in the valley of the 

 Rio Grande is not the Scops maccalli of Cassin, as has been 

 all along supposed, but your Guatemalan variety, race, or 

 species — what you will — Scops enano. What makes this de- 

 termination the more unintelligible is the fact that, according 

 to the Pacific R. R. Reports, vol. ix., S. maccalli was de- 

 scribed from a Texan type. Cassin undoubtedly had also Cali- 

 fornian specimens before him, all of them of the species now 

 recognized as the true S. maccalli, and hence the confusion of 

 the two forms by him. 



Since the above was written, and before I had an oppor- 

 tunity of forwarding it, I have received a letter from Mr. 

 Sennett; and as it gives me several interesting ornithological 

 notes from the same region, I will briefly mention them. 



The eggs of Seunett's new Dove, called jEc/imoptila albi- 

 frons, instead of being white are of a decided olive hue. The 

 species new to our fauna secured by Mr. Sennett are Croto- 

 phaga sulcirostris (in the Smithsonian list, but without evi- 

 dence), Pitangus derbianus, and a Flycatcher whose name 

 he does not mention. Mr. Sennett has also taken in Texas 

 specimens of Scops enano and Buteo albicaudatus. 



Yours &c., 



Thomas M. Brewer. 



P.S. I have just ascertained that the small rare Flycatcher 

 taken by Mr. Sennett, and new to our fauna, is Ornithion 

 incanescens, a but little-known species, and one that no one 

 would have looked for as likely to turn up in the United 

 States. Ornithologically, you see, we are extending a pro- 

 tectorate over the feathered inhabitants of Mexico and Cen- 

 tral America, or rather they are seeking it. 



