V0 ^ VI ] General Notes. 28 1 



clearly demonstrates. This mistake arose from taking Professor Baird's 

 identification of Vieillot's Pira?iga rubra, — P. R. R. Rep., IX, 185S, p. 

 300, where he cites it as a synonym of the bird now known as Piranga 

 erythromelas, in which course he has been followed by some other authors. 

 Further comment is unnecessary ; and the two birds in question remain in 

 undisputed possession of their present names. — Harry C. Oberholser, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Clivicola versus Riparia. — In 'The Auk' for July, 1S98, pages 271-272, 

 Dr, Coues draws attention to the fact that the generic name Riparia Fors- 

 ter (Synop. Cat. Brit. Birds, 1S17, 17) has page priority over the current 

 Clivicola Forster (ibid., p. 55) ; at the same time expressing his preference 

 for the adoption of theformer. The A. O. U. Committee, however, refused 

 to accept Riparia on the ground that Clivicola Avas used by the ' first 

 reviser.' These two names are founded upon the same species and are 

 both unaccompanied by diagnoses, so that there can be no question of 

 their equal pertinency. Canon XVIII of the A. O. U. Code, which 

 treats of generic terms published simultaneously, makes no definite pro- 

 vision for just this kind of a case; but in the preceding canon, with 

 regard to specific names, the following occurs: "Of names of undoubt- 

 edly equal pertinencj', and founded upon the same condition of sex, age, 

 or season, that is to be preferred which stands first in the book." 

 Therefore, unless we are to have on this point arbitrarily different 

 rules for species and genera, a procedure apparently both unnecessary 

 and undesirable, Clivicola must give way to Riparia. That the above 

 quoted principle of page priority was intended to apply to genera as 

 well as to species is evidenced by rulings of the Committee ; as witness 

 Guara, instead of Leucibis, which was adopted by the ' first reviser' 

 — a perfectly parallel case. 



While recourse to the decision of the ' first reviser ' is often attended 

 by more or less uncertainty, arising from the possibility of overlooking 

 some obscure publication, the great advantage in the strict application 

 of the principle of anteriority, as priority of pagination or sequence in 

 the same book may be called, is that it furnishes means for a definite and 

 final decision, thereby contributing to hasten on the millennium of zoolog- 

 ical nomenclature — stability of names. — Harry C. Oberholser, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



Nest of Long-billed Marsh Wren lined with a Snake Skin. — On 

 June 6, 1S9S, on the meadow near Rutherford, New Jersey, I found a 

 curious nest of Cistoihorus palustris. It was fastened two feet above the 

 water, to some green cat-tails, and was composed of reeds and broad 

 grasses, and lined with a cast-off snake skin which was about a foot long. 

 It contained six fresh eggs. — Josiah H. Clark, Paterson, N.J. 



The Short-billed Marsh Wren [Cistothorus stellaris) in Maine. — In 

 Smith's List of the Birds of Maine (cf. Smith, Forest and Stream, Vol. 



