1^2 Correspondence. [April 



this letter bird having been kindly furnished me by Professor Henry A. 

 Ward. Dr. Shufeldt's very figure of Tachycineta shows at a glance that 

 the expanded ends of the maxillo-palatines have been broken off, and I 

 have yet to learn that doubling the size of a drawing doubles its accuracy. 



I should have been very glad to have found myself in error concerning 

 Panyptila, as it would have given me another, although slight, point of 

 resemblance between the Swifts and Hummingbirds. 



The material in the National Museum has already taught me that the 

 sternum may be notched or entire in Auks of the same species, and the 

 same thing will be found to occur in the Loons; also, if my memory is 

 not treacherous, in other water fowl. The reason for this is, it seems to 

 me. very evident, while the fact itself has no bearing whatever on the 

 present case. That Dr. Shufeldt is aware of this is shown by his haste to 

 remark that "Of course in recording what I have just done in the preced- 

 ing paragraph, I by no means wish it to be understood that I in any way 

 underrate the significance of the 'notching' of the xiphoidal end of the 

 sternum, in the vast majority of birds." I would also note that the entire- 

 ty of the posterior margin of the sternum was but one oi four good char- 

 acters pointed out. Since Dr. Shufeldt places but little reliance on the 

 structure of the bony palate as a taxonomic character, has had his faith in 

 the sternum shaken, and rejects the modifications of the limbs (aside from 

 the modification of the phalanges, on which he lays considerable stress!), 

 it would seem that but little of the skeleton was left on which to found 

 comparative distinctions. 



That the •osteologist-in-chief is not conversant with a large amount of 

 ornithological literature is unluckily too true, and he has always regarded 

 it as a great misfortune. Still, had my commentator been less engrossed 

 by the footnotes, he might have inferred from a paragraph almost at the 

 very outset, that I was not entirely ignorant of Dr. Parker's opinions on 

 the subject under consideration. 



In conclusion, allow me to express my surprise at the concluding para- 

 graph of Dr. Shufeldt's letter, the sarcastic tone of which leads me to infer 

 that he prefers to evolve opinions which do not compare favorably with 

 those held by living masters in morphology. 



Very respectfully, 



Frederic A. Lucas. 

 Washington, D. C. Jan. 25, 18S7. 



The Sense of Smell in Cathartes aura. 

 To the Editors of the Auk : — 



Sirs: — In his article in the January number of this Journal, Mr. Ira Sayles 

 has added another instance to the already long list of fallacious 'proofs' 

 of the remarkable power of scent in the American Vultures. Ignoring 

 the fact that there is certainly room for some difference of opinion as to 

 what constitutes a remarkable power of smell, he sets aside as utterly 



