576 Messrs. G. M. Mathews and T. Iredale on some 



Oceanodroma castro (Harcourt) ( = c?*yjo^o/eMCMrfl Ridgway), 

 appear, so that \\q are uot exactly dealing with ancient 

 history. 



We are emphasizing this as we contend that " lumping " 

 of genera induces carelessness in the critical examination of 

 birds as well as obscures alliances and confuses convergence 

 with relationship, and we are here furnished with a beautiful 

 example. We will discuss it in detail further on, but we 

 would here justify our remarks by stating that Procellaria 

 tethys has the tail " distinctly forked,'''' while Oceanodroma 

 castro or cryptoleucura has the tail not perceptibly forked. 

 Yet Rothschild and Hartert, after examining both these 

 birds, deliberately wrote that the characters given as above 

 in the Catalogue of Birds " can serve to distinguish them.'^ 

 Had these workers been genus-splitters such a statement 

 would not have been made, as careful examination of the 

 birds to ascertain if ditferences existed would have enabled 

 them to detect the inaccuracies present in the key. 



The whole of the members of the subfamily admitted in 

 the ' Monograph ' read : — 



Procellaria pelagica Linn., P. tethys Bp. 

 Halocyptena microsoma Coues. 



Oceanodroma leucorrhoa (Vieill.), O. beali Emerson, 

 0. beldingi Emerson, O. kaedingi Anthony, 0. castro (Har- 

 court), O. macrodactyla Bryant, 0. tristrami Stejneger, 

 O. melania (Bp.), O, markhami (Salvin), 0. homochroa 

 (Coues), 0. monorhis (Swinhoe), O. hornbyi (Gray), and 

 O.furcata (Gm,). 



In the American Ornithologists' Union's Check-list, 

 3rd ed. 1910, pp. 56-57, we have the following improve- 

 ment as regards Oceanodroma : — Oceanodroma, subgen. s. s., 

 sole species farcata Gm. ; subgen. Cymochorea Coues, with 

 s})ecies 0. kaedingi Anthony, leucorhoa (Vieillot), macro- 

 dactyla Bryant, castro (Harcourt), melania (Bonaparte)^ 

 homochroa (Coues), and socorroensis Townsend. 



It will be seen that the only American species left in the 

 typical subgenus of Oceanodroma is the type, all the others 

 being classed under Cymochorea, but only subgenericaliy. 



