Hensiiaw on the Species of the Genus Passcrella. 



Fasserculus princeps. 



Centronyx bairdii, Allen, Am. Nat. iii, 1869, 513 (original notice of 

 supposed occurrence of P. bairdi in Massachusetts, the actual reference 

 being to P. princeps). — Mayn., Am. Nat. iii, 1869, 554 (next notice of 

 the same). — Allen, Am. Nat. iii, 1869, 631 (third notice of the same). 



— Mayn., Nat. Guide, 1870, 113, frontisp. (fourth notice of the same). 



— Brewst., Am. Nat. vi, 1872, 307 (fifth notice of the same, and of 

 additional specimens). 



Passerculus princeps, Mayn., Am. Nat. vi, 1872, 637 (explanation of 

 the error, and the supposed " C. bairdii" from Ipswich, Mass. named P. 

 princeps). — Coues, Key, 1872, App. 352. — Coues, Am. Nat. vii, 1873, 

 696. — Bd., Brew., and Ridgw., Hist. N. A. B. i, 1874, 540, pi. 25, f. 2. — 

 Brewer, Pr. Bost. Soc. xvii, 1875, 441. — Brewst., Bull. Nuttall Club, 

 i, 1876, 52 (New Brunswick). — Merriam, Bull. Nuttall Club, i, 1876, 

 52 (Connecticut). — Brown, Bull. Nuttall Club, ii, 1877, 27 (New 

 Hampshire). — Bailey, Bull. Nuttall Club, ii, 1877, 78 (Coney Island, 

 N. Y.). — Minot, Birds New Engl. 1877, 195 (general account). — May- 

 nard, Nat. Guide, 2d Ed. 1877 (colored plate ; text rewritten). 



ON THE SPECIES OF THE GENUS PASSERELLA. 

 by h. w. henshaw. 



The genus Passerella was instituted by Swainson in 1837 to re- 

 ceive the only species known at that time to him, the Fringilla 

 iliaca of Merrem and of the early authors generally. The Aonal- 

 ashka Bunting, doubtfully the P. toivnsendi of recent authors, was 

 named by Gmelin, in 1788, constituting his Fringilla tmalaskensis. 

 In the uncertainty respecting Gmelin's bird, his description apply- 

 ing equally well to the Melospiza insignis, the toivnsendi of Audubon, 

 named in 1838, has been accepted by most ornithologists. The 

 genus, with its two species, thus remained till 1858, when Profes- 

 sor Baird described the P. schistacea from the interior, and at the 

 same time noticed a closely allied form from California with larger 

 bill, for which he proposed the name megarhyncha. These four 

 " species," as they have sometimes been called, or forms, make up a 

 very interesting as well as puzzling group, as shown by the doubt- 

 ful manner in which they have been treated by various writers, 



