BULLETIN No. 35 55 



anothtT ar^iLiiiifiit in favor of eiriployinjj; such a method, for it is 

 only by means of a lar^e number of specimens that exact re- 

 sults can be arrived at. 



The paper is based upon the study of 294 skins from all 

 parts of the country, the extreme north being, apparently, not 

 so well represented as the middle poitions of the east and west, 

 while the south Atlantic states furnish a large proportion. While 

 a larger amount of material would have biren desirable, it is 

 doubtful whether the results would have been perceptibly dif- 

 ferent. 



Under the caption 'Methods,' the author says 'No attention 

 has been given to the subspeciflc distinctions appearing on the 

 labels of skins, for 1 have considered it important to avoid all 

 possibility of bias of opinion which attention to previous classi- 

 rlcation might give.' It is interesting to notice, in this connec- 

 tion, that the variations which this exact method of study 

 brings out correspond with the life zones, so that the author is led 

 to the conclusion that Mr. Palmer's subspecies, migrans, which 

 is the north-eastern form, is as worthy of recognition as the 

 California form, leaving to the reader the right to pass judgment 

 whether or not the variation shown is sufticient to warrant the 

 creation of these two forms. Since there has been no effort to 

 establish a percentage of variation which shall mark the bounds 

 of sub-specitlc distinctness in the direction of mere geographical 

 forms or minor races, all power remains vested in the A. O. U. 

 committee on the revision of the nomenclature. While we 

 have no reason to doubt their fairness and abilitv. the adoption 

 of some precise criterion of sub-species would materially aid 

 them in this work. 



The paper is intended simply as a description of work be- 

 gun in the fall of 1898, carried on at Harvard University and 

 and completed during the winter or 1899-1900. It is necessarily 

 technical in nature and presentation, and it shows a great 

 amount of painstaking investigation. [L. J.] 



/Abstract of the Proceeling of the 'Delaware Valley Ornitho- 

 logical Club of Philadelphia. This flourishing society has suc- 

 cessfully passed through the most critical period of its existanct? 



