144 



THE OSPRBY. 



of bird life hurts their feelings, besides being 

 dead against all the Audubon circulars. We 

 doubt that such an appeal to the throne of grace 

 would have the slighte.st effect on meteorology; 

 but it might keep some of the Audubonians out 

 of mischief, stop their abuse of ornithologists 

 during the prayer meetiiig^s at any rate, and 

 furnish the editor of Bird-Lore with good ma- 

 terial for his magazine. — E. C. 



On Cekt.\in Genekic .\nd Subgkneric 

 N.\MHS IN THE A. O. U. Check-List. — It is well- 

 known that the discrimination of g-enera in our 

 Check-List has not kept pace with our ing-enuity 

 in the segregation of species and subspecies. 

 This is inconsistent witli the progress of the 

 science in a certain direction, and therefore not 

 as it should be. A few years ago the committee 

 which reg'ulates our nomenclature to some extent 

 became panic-stricken on the subject of g'^enera, 

 and in that frame of mind abolished a larg^e 

 number of generic names which had been cur- 

 rent since 1858, or degraded them to subg'^eneric 

 rank. This was distinctly a retrograde step, 

 not an advance in the art of classification; and 

 we have ever since been trying" to recover ground 

 lost during our stampede. We have succeeded 

 well in .some families, as Trochilidir and Ana- 

 lidcr: but not so well in others. In my judg-- 

 ment, a larg-e number of the subgenera now 

 standing- in the Check-List require to be restoi'ed 

 or advanced to full generic rank, and some ad- 

 ditional subgenera need to be recognized. I 

 submit the following cases to the judgment of 

 the connnittee: 



Subgenus Proclopus: for the Eared Grebes. 



Subgenus or genus Micriiria: for Xantus' 

 and Craveri's Murrelets. 



Subgenus or genus J'si'udiiria, Sharpe. MS. 

 for the Black Guillemots with 14 rectrices. 



Subgenus or genus Chroicoccpbatua: for the 

 Hooded Gulls. 



Subgenus Hydrocoleeas: for Lams ininiitiis. 



Genus CiTiti^riis: for the larg^e Fork-tailed 

 C;ull of the Hvpothetical Li^t. 



Subgenus Phochaslria: for the Short-tailed 

 and Black-footed Albatrosses. 



Subg-enus Cymochorea: for Leach's petrel, etc. 



Subgenus Pallasicarho nob. Type Phalacro- 

 I'ora.v pfispirillatiis. 



A subgenus for the Wood Duck, as the type of 

 .li.v is x'a/rririi/ii/ij. 



Geinis Fulie^tila: for the Scaups. 



Reduction of Charitonctta to rank of subgenus. 



Genus .irdca: type A. cincrca Linn. To be 

 restricted as follows; 



Genus J-fcrodias: type A. c;i;ir//a Gm. 



Genus C!ar:eita: type A. gayzctta Linn., with 

 possibly a .subgenus Lciicophov-V for our Snowy 

 Heron. 



(Jenus /h't'/ii'OD/nnii.ssa: type . /. rii/'ci. Bodd. 

 {Picluoniaiiassa riifi-sd'iis). 



Gejius Hydra)ia.'isa: type A. ludoz'icinna WiU. 



Genus Florida: type A. ccerulra Linn. 



Genus Piitoridcs: type A. jaiHiuiciis Horsf. 



Subgenus Limtiogcramis: for the Whooping'' 

 Crane. 



Genus . Irqiiiitclla: for the Purple Sandpipers. 



Genus . Ictinironias: for the Stints, etc. 



Geinis Ptiidna: for the Dunlins. 



Genus .Incyloihihii: for the Curlew Sand- 

 piper. 



Subgenus Tnla?iiis: to inchule the Yellowleg's. 



Genus Podasocys: for the Mountain Plover. 



Genus As/ur: for the Goshawks. 



Subg-enus Psilo.siops nob. Type Scops fiain- 

 ;;/C(>/(7 Kaup. {Ps.flaunnc0la3.nA f's.f. ida/iocnsis.) 



Genus . Isyiidcsiiins: for Lewis" Woodpecker. 



Genus Cent urns: for the Red-bellied Wood- 

 pecker, etc. 



Genus Picicorvns: for Clark's Crow. 



Genus Hcspcriphona: for the Evening Gros- 

 beak. 



Genus I\jsscrciiliis: for the Savanna Sparrow. 



Subg-enus Iridoprncnc: for the Tree Swallow. 



Genus Tehnatodytcs: for the Long-billed 

 Marsh Wren. 



Genus l.opliopliancs: for the Tufted Titmice. 

 El.i.ioTT CouKS, 

 Washington, D. C, April Z\. 1809. 



