THE GENUS CHOEDEILES SWAINSON OBERHOLSEE. 21 



" cdberculatus " Jardine, this undoubtedly a misprint for {Gayri- 

 7rhulgus\ labeculatus Jardine, a synonym of Chordeiles acutipennisf 

 and the second species, CapTimulgus escilis Lesson, with which he 

 synonymizes Caprinmlgus pruinosus Tschudi. Since the Ramphaora- 

 tus truncatus of Bonaparte is a nomen nudum, it leaves Capiimulgus 

 exilis Lesson as the virtually monotypic type of RamphaoraUis. 



The generic term Chordeiles has, like so many others, suffered at 

 the hands of emenders, who, in seeking to " improve " the name, have 

 in some cases made it worse. • This is an excellent example of the 

 impossibility of formulating any satisfactory rule for the emenda- 

 tion of names, because, as in the present instance, there are often 

 several different ways of spelling the same word, by varying the 

 terminations, all of which are orthographically and classically cor- 

 rect, and merely a matter of preference. The best course, therefore, 

 from the standpoint of either reason or convenience, is to adhere to 

 the original spelling of generic names, even though in some instances 

 this be, from a classical point of view, evidently wrong. The name 

 Chordeiles has been spelled in at least five different ways, including 

 the original, and under the International Code of Nomenclature most 

 of these would be regarded, so far as their form is concerned, as 

 tenable generic terms. Mr. G. R. Gray in 1840 ^ first changed the 

 name to Chordeilus^ designating the type, as in the original Chor- 

 deiles, Caprimulgus virginianus Gmelin. Next Tschudi in 1846 ^ 

 spelled it Chordiles, and included only ''''Gh\ordiles'\. semitorguatus 

 Cab.," which is, of course, the same as Capritnulgus exilis Lesson. 

 In 1847 ^ Cabanis emended it to Chordediles, and the type of this is, 

 of course, the same as that of the original Chordeiles. In 1869 ^ Mr. 

 G. R. Gray credits Cabanis with the orthography '''•Ghordedilus^'' 

 supposedly used in 1861; but, after careful search, I have not been 

 able to locate the reference. There may be still other spellings of 

 Chordeiles buried in the literature, but I have been unable to discover 

 them. 



The word Chordeiles is derived from the Greek x^P^^? a string (of 

 a lyre or other musical instrument), and SstXr^, evening, or twilight; 

 and the longer forms of the word, Chordediles and Chordedilus, 

 are better, orthographically, than the contraction Chordeiles. This, 

 however, does not, of course, concern us in the scientific use of the 

 name. 



Literature. — Few extended papers on this genus have appeared, 

 and most of its literature consists of scattered notes on the species, 

 often in connection with birds of other genera and families, in 



1 List Genera Birds, 1840, p. 7. 



« Fauna Peruana, Ornith., 1846, p. 21. 



» [Wiegmann's] Arciiiv fiir Naturg., vol. 13, pt. 1, November, 1847, p. 346. 



* Hand-List Gen. Spec. Birds, vol. 1, 1869, p. 61. 



