46 From Magazines, <^c. [isf'juiy 



From Magazines, &c. 



Alterations in Nomenclature. — Mr. Gregory M. Mathews 

 contributes a highly technical and argumentative article to 

 Novitates Zoolos,icce, vol. xvii., December, iqio. " On Some 

 Necessary Alterations in the Nomenclature of Birds." As a 

 sample see foot-note, p. 51. this issue. 



A Bird of the Sierras.— Mr. Milton S. Ray, a well-known 

 Californian ornithologist, in a recent issue of The Condor (Sept.- 

 Oct., 1910), describes, in a most interesting paper, the discovery 

 of the nest and eggs of the Grey-crowned Leucosticte (L. tephro- 

 cotis tephrocotis). The place of discovery was Pyramid Rock, 

 " a lofty mountain of the great Sierran chain in the eastern portion 

 of Eldorado County, California." The bird was first described 

 by Swainson in 1831, and, although many have searched, the nest 

 and eggs have remained unknown until 1910. Mr. Ray and his 

 party had to traverse snow-drifts on the climb up the mountain, 

 and the treasure they were in quest of was at length discovered 

 beneath a pile of angular rocks. 



* * * 



Birds of North-East Greenland. — ' In Dr. J. Lindhard's account 

 of the Danish expedition to North-East Greenland, 1906-8 

 [Geogr. Joiirn., xxxv., p. 541), we are told that the ' ornithological 

 booty of the expedition was unexpectedly abundant." Particular 

 attention was paid to the breeding-places of such species as Tringa 

 camdus, Calidris arenaria, Phalaropus fulicariiis, Larus sahinii, 

 L. ehurneus, Anser leiicopsis, and Lomateria spectabilis. Of all 

 these species, specimens — not only of full-grown birds, but also 

 of eggs and of young in different stages of development — were 

 procured. Of Calidris arenaria twenty-four eggs were obtained, 

 and a breeding-place of thirty pairs of Tringa camdus was dis- 

 covered. A specimen of Fiiligida marila, a species new to Green- 

 land, was brought home." — The Ibis, October, 1910. 



New Australian Sub-Species. — The trinomial system may 

 simplify the nomenclature of birds. At the same time, it appears 

 an easy medium for multiplying sub-species. According to the 

 " Bulletin " (No. clxvii.) of the British Ornithologists' Club. 

 Mr. G. M. Mathews exhibited and described the following as 

 new : — 



Ninox hiimeralis queenslandica. 



Aphelocephala leucopsis pallida. 

 Also, according to " Bulletin " No. clxix. : — 



Rhipidnra albiscapa alisteri. 



Pomatostomus superciliosus ashbyi. 

 And again, according to Novitates ZoologiccB (December, 1910) : — 



Meliornis novce-hollandicB diemenensis. 



