58 A. E. J^errlll — Additions to the Fauna of the Bermudas. 



BIRDS. 



A list of 17 species of birds that have been recently added to the 

 fauna has been published by Mr. A. H. VerrilL* 



Of these, five species are recent successful introductions by com- 

 merce, either intentional or accidental. These are the American 

 Goldfinch, the European Goldfinch, the European Tree-Sparrow, the 

 Wheatear, and the Mockingbird, all of which are now resident 

 and breed. The others (12) are rai'e migrants that probably do not 

 breed there, though it is possible that the Red-billed Tropic Bird, 



* Amer. Journ. Sci., xii, p. 64, for July (issued June 22d to 28th), 1901. He 

 has also printed a more detailed article in " The Osprey," v, pp. 83-85, for June, 

 1901, with figures of the three following species and of the Tropic Bird, photo- 

 graphed from life. In these articles he has described the Bermuda Cardinal 

 Bird and the Blue Bird as new subspecies, peculiar to Bermuda. The Cardinal 

 Bird is named Cardinalis eardinalis Somersii ; the Blue Bird, Sialia sialis Ber- 

 mudensis ; the Ground Dove, Columbigallina passerina Bahamensis. 



Outram Bangs and Thos. S. Bradlee have also published a paper on the Birds 

 of Bermuda in " The Axik " for July, 1901, pp. 249-357, in which new names are 

 given to some of these birds and others. 



They name the Ground Dove, Columbigallina bermudiana ; the White-eyed 

 Vii'eo, Vireo bermudianus ; the Catbird, Galeoscoptes berinudiainis ; the Cardinal > 

 Cardinalis bermudianus. 



Mr. Verrill's article appears to have been published a few days earlier than 

 the latter. 



To me it seems quite iiseless to regard these very slightly differentiated forms 

 as distinct "species." The differences noted, especially in the Ground Dove, 

 Catbird, and Vireo, are trivial and scarcely svifficient to constitute varieties. To 

 consider them as "subspecies" is certainly a sufficient strain on the much- 

 stretched meaning of the term "subspecies." 1 should, therefore, call them 

 mere local varieties, scarcely differentiated. 



In respect to the Ground Dove, thei'e are reasons for believing that it was intro- 

 duced to Bermuda from the Bahamas, since the settlement of the islands, like 

 many other things. None of the earlier writers mentioned it in the lists of 

 birds that they gave. This would hardly have been the case had it been 

 present, for it is exceedingly tame and familiar. 



A. K. Fisher, Bird Lore, Oct., 1901, p. 178, states that the original Motacilla 

 sialis LinniS, ed. x, p. 187, was from Bermuda. This is not true. He gave it as 

 from " Bermudis & America calidore." He also quotes Catesby, Hist. Caro- 

 lina, etc., p. 47, pi. 47, 1731. Catesby says that he had seen it in "^Carolina, 

 Virginia, Maryland, and the Bermudas." But he states in his preface that his 

 birds were mostly drawn in Carolina and Georgia, where he spent several years 

 in drawing them. A few were drawn in the Bahamas, where he spent about a 

 year, mostly on the fishes and plants. He does not say that he made ani/ 

 drawings in Bermuda, where he probably made a mere passing visit. The 

 Bluebird does not occur in the Bahamas. His figure clearly represents the com- 

 mon North American variety. 



