A20 Corresfonde7ice. xjOzi 



44S, which is signatured "IX *." and which duplicated lines which 

 appeared on the previous page. 



I am, Sirs, yours truly 



C. Da VIES Sherborn, 



'•^ Index AniiiialiHin?'' 

 Sept. 6, '02. 



[It gives me pleasure to offer my best thanks to Mr. Sherborn for the 

 information he has given the "unenlightened American Ornithologists" 

 respecting the reprinted leaf comprising pp. 447, 448 of Vol. IX, Nouv. 

 Diet, d' Hist. Nat., nouvelle edition, 181 7, signatured "IX *." As Mr. 

 Sherborn suspects, this is the edition of this volume, and the only one, 

 I have consulted in this connection, and it is also the one used by Mr. 

 Elliot. Apologies are therefore due, and are here cheerfully rendered, 

 to Mr. Grant in respect to the citation in question. 



It remains to note that if the x\2LVc\e^ fera replaces the name sylvestris in 

 the reprinted leaf, Meleagris sylz'estris of course antedates Meleagris 

 /era, so that the Wild Turkey of the Eastern United States will have to 

 stand, from the American point of view, as Meleagris gallopavo sylves- 

 tris (Vieill.). — J. A. Allen]. 



Unsatisfactory Records. 

 Editors of 'The Auk': — 



Dear Sirs: — It is with reluctance that we offer any criticism of labor 

 which results in so much pleasure and profit as the editing of ' The Auk.' 

 For some time, however, it has seemed to us that a stricter censorship 

 of items for the ' General Notes ' would result in a much more satisfactory 

 standard in that department. Many interesting birds have lately been 

 recorded, as seen, not shot, by observers whose capacity for accurate 

 observation is absolutely unknown to ornithologists in general. Some 

 of these records seem to bear on their face evidence of error. There 

 appeared, for instance, in 'The Auk' for July, 1902, p. 297, a list of 

 arrivals in the Northern Adirondacks. The author lists the White-eyed 

 Vireo, and records its arrival from April 25 to April 30. There is no 

 mention of the Solitary Vireo in the list. This seems enough to arouse 

 suspicion. When one notes further that the date of the arrival of the 

 Wilson's Thrush is given as from April 20 to April 25, nine days earlier 

 than the date given in Chapman's 'Handbook' for Sing-Sing, N. Y., and 

 that the Hermit Thrush does not appear in the list, it seems surprising 

 tliat the list should have been printed without the least editorial comment. 



We would respectfully suggest that no record of a bird merely observed, 

 where there is any chance for error, be accepted, unless the observer be 

 well known to the editor, or to some ornithologist of standing and judg- 

 ment, who will vouch to the editor for the accuracy of the observer. 

 Yours respectfully, 



William Brewster, 



Ralph Hoffmann. 

 Caml'ridire, Mass. 



