112 Recently published Ornithological Works. [Ibis, 



The following new forms are described for the first time : — 

 Penthestes hudsonicus nigricans Townshend, from Labrador ; 

 Cryptoglaux acadica brooksi Fleming, from Queen Charlotte 

 Islands ; Cloephaga hybrida mahinarum Phillips, from the 

 Falkland Islands ; jEstrelata cahow and Pufinus pup,nus 

 bermudoe Nichols & Mowbray, from Bermuda. It will have 

 to be determined later whether ^s^re/«/a vociferans, recently 

 described in 'The Ibis' by Dr. Shufeldt, is identical with 

 ^. cahow. 



The last article in the present volume deals with a new 

 pro|)osal in regard to changes in the A. O. U. Check-list. 

 Up till now^, any additions or amendments have been decided 

 on by a standing committee appointed for that purpose, and 

 their decisions have been on the whole accepted almost 

 universally by the body of American Ornithologists, though 

 murmurs and grumbles have sometimes made themselves 

 heard. It is now proposed to divide the proposed changes 

 into two categories : — Those that may be called nomen- 

 claturalj i. e. cases of change of old-established names ; these 

 will be settled by the committee, as they can all be dealt 

 with by strict adherence to the code of rules of nomen- 

 clature. Secondly, those that may be called ornithological, 

 such as the acceptance or rejection of newly proposed sub- 

 species or genera. These cases must, of course, depend on 

 the examination of large series of specimens, and also on 

 individual opinion and judgment. With a view of inviting 

 study and criticism on these later cases, the committee now 

 present a list of forms described as new^ since the publication 

 of the last edition of the Check-list and another of the forms 

 which it has been proposed to reject. 



We hope tliat this new method of dealing with a very 

 difficult and vexed question will be found a satisfactory one 

 and that the committee will be assisted to give a decision in 

 these cases, which will commend itself to the large body of 

 working ornithologists of the United States. Personally we 

 still feel that many of the nomenclatural questions cannot 

 be decided by a code of rules, but must depend on the 

 opinion of the individual worker. Such questions, for 



