460 Messrs. Salvin and Sclater's Index of the 



tribution to our knowledge of the ornithology of that vast country, 

 which now, thanks to the labours of Prince Maximilian, Bur- 

 meister, and Natterer, seems to be pretty thoroughly explored. 

 No less than 393 species are included in this paper, notes on all of 

 them being added. Two species of Tyrannidse are described as 

 new, under the names Eluinea lundii and Mijiopatis superciliaris, 

 both being figured. In a note on Hirundinea bellicosa (Vieill.)^ 

 p. 144, Prof. Reinhardt demurs to the identifications made by 

 Sclater (Ibis, 1869, pp. 196 et seq.), and, uniting Azara^s species 

 with H. rupestris (Max.), proposes to call the bird from Peru 

 and New Granada H. sclateri. 

 RiDGWAY, Robert. 



A New Classification of the North- American Falconidse, ivith 

 Descrijjtions of Three New Species. Pioc. Ac. N. Sc. Phil. 

 1870, pp. 138-150. 



The present paper is preliminary to a ' Monograph of the 

 North-American Raptores,^ now in preparation, and does little 

 more than indicate the arrangement proposed to be adopted. 

 The characters are drawn entirely from external features; and 

 as some rather sweeping changes are proposed in the primary 

 divisions of the family, we cannot but wish stronger grounds 

 had been shown for the views adopted. A new species of Merlin 

 called Falco {Hypotriorchis) richardsoni is described, and is said 

 to differ widely from F. cesalon and F. columbarius, the adult 

 male being brown like the female. F. {Tinnunculus) leucophrys 

 is described as new. It is from Cuba and San Domingo, and 

 is found with T. sparveroides. Mr. Ridgway goes on to differ- 

 entiate the American Kestrels, which have, wath the exception of 

 an Antillean species, pretty successfully resisted all previous 

 attempts in the same dii'ection. T. sparverius is split into 

 five " varieties," whatever that term may mean. It seems an 

 evident contradiction to call a bird a " variety '' and then go on 

 to give definite characters whereby it may be distinguished. 

 The term " variety " has a real meaning in Zoology, but not in 

 the sense Mr. Ridgway uses it. A new generic name, Onychoies, 

 is proposed for a bird believed to be from California ; and the 

 species is described as 0. (jruheri. It belongs to the Accipitrinse 

 of the present arrangement, which includes Buteo, near to which 



