18S7O Stejneger, Further Notes on the Genus Acanthis. lj 



characterized by its brown rump and small size. The characters 

 are uniform and well pronounced, and I can find no true transi- 

 tion to A. linaria proper. The specimens have been very care- 

 fully measured, the result being given in the subjoined tables 

 which should be compared with the measurements recorded in 

 'The Auk,' I, 18S4, p. 154, and in my 'Ornithological Explora- 

 tions in Kamtschatka,' 1SS5, pp. 253-256. 



Thanks to the energetic endeavors of Mr. W. E. Brooks, of 

 Milton, Ontario, who, through Mr. Tristram, obtained the loan of 

 an Italian specimen from the Florence Museum, I have been en- 

 abled to examine a specimen of the Southern Small Redpoll, 

 which breeds in high altitudes in the South European mountains. 

 I am under great obligations to the gentlemen mentioned for 

 the trouble they have taken. 



The specimen in question, a female in autumnal plumage, is 

 more like A. cabaret than any of the other Redpolls. It differs, 

 however, from all the British specimens before me in the follow- 

 ing points. (It should be remarked that the specimens are fully 

 comparable, as they are nearly all killed in October and Novem- 

 ber, six of them being marked as females on the labels.) The 

 Italian bird has the brownish color much brighter and more 

 ochraceous than any of the British specimens, the difference being 

 particularly striking on the lower surface. On the other hand, 

 the southern bird has the outer margins of tail-feathers and ter- 

 tials distinctly whitish and not pale umber brown as the English 

 ones. Mr. Brooks has already in a letter pointed out to me that 

 the flanks of the Italian specimen are more heavily streaked with 

 dusky, and I may add that it has small but distinct dusky streaks 

 quite across the fore neck, a feature only observed in one of the 

 English specimens before me. As will be seen from the append- 

 ed measurements, the dimensions are about the same, but the bill 

 is decidedly smaller. 



As a matter of course, no decision can be made from a single 

 specimen in this difficult group. But I think it important to call 

 attention to the above differences, for the question whether the 

 English and the South European Redpolls are identical, is a 

 very interesting one. I am strongly inclined to think that it will 

 be necessary ultimately to recognize A. rufescens (Vieill.) as 

 different from A. cabaret. From the list of specimens quoted by 

 Dresser as examined by him (Birds of Europe, IV, p. 50) it is 



