Vol^-gXXV-| General Notes. 85 



Connecticut shore of Long Island Sound, in late September and October, 

 and it was therefore made an exception, and included, as was clearly- 

 stated in the note on this species (p. 82), without its having ever been 

 taken on Long Island. A specimen was first secured by the writer on 

 October 5, 1907, at Rockaway Beach. — William C. Braislin, M. D., 

 Brookhjn, N. Y. 



The Tree Swallow Nesting in the Delaware Valley. — On July 7, 1907, 

 while boating on the Rancocas we found a Tree Swallow's nest in a hole 

 in a pile near Bridgeboro, Burlington County, N. J., less than five miles 

 from the Delaware River. It contained five well incubated eggs. While 

 this bird is a somewhat common breeder throughout the Pine Barren 

 region of southern New Jersey it is rarely found nesting within the Dela- 

 ware Valley. — Chreswell J. Hunt, Philadelphia, Pa. 



The Name of the California Least Vireo. — In ' The Condor ' for Novem- 

 ber, 1901, page 187, I named and described Vireo pusillus albatus, with 

 type from Pasadena, distinguishing it from Vireo pusillus Coues, from 

 Arizona. In his 'Birds of North and Middle America,' Part III, 1904, 

 page 207, Mr. Ridgway describes Vireo bellii arizonce, with type from 

 Tucson, and distinguishes it from V . b. medius of Texas and V . b. pusillus 

 (page 208) of California. He cites my name albalus as a synonym of 

 pusillus, and gives the type of Vireo pusillus Coues as from "Cape San 

 Lucas, Lower California; coll. U. S. Nat. Mus." 



I have not the original description of pusillus to refer to; but turning 

 to Coues's 'Birds of the Colorado Valley.' 1878, page 531, I find in the 

 synonymy "Vireo pusillus, Coues, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1866, 76 (descr. orig.; 

 near Fort Whipple, Ariz.)." Further down the page the habitat is given 

 as "Arizona, chiefly in its lower portions, and California from Sacramento 

 to Cape St. Lucas." Furthermore, on the next page (532), Coues makes 

 the following definite statement: "The type-specimen of Vireo pusillus 

 was shot on Date Creek, in Arizona, June 6, 1865, [etc., in regard to cir- 

 cumstances of capture]"; and further, "it [the species] remained unde- 

 scribed until the following year, when I overhauled my Arizona collections 

 at the Smithsonian in Washington." Also, the description (on page 531) 

 applies far better (in fact precisely) to the Arizona race than to that of 

 California. 



In view of the above statements by its original describer I cannot under- 

 stand by what process the type-ship of pusillus could possibly be imposed 

 upon a Cape San Lucas specimen. The type bird is stated by Coues to 

 have come from Arizona, and that it was shot by himself at a certain place 

 there. That specimen, according to Baird, in his 'Review of American 

 Birds,' 1866, page 361, bore the "Smithsonian No. 40,696." In the ulti- 

 mate recognition of a separate race in California, the name pusillus should 

 apply to the Arizona form as restricted, while the California form is open 

 to naming. This I did; and since intergradation has been shown to exist 

 between the extremes in the species, how can the name of the California 



