166 Recent Literature. [j^ n k 



Oberholser on Larus hyperboreus barrovianus. 1 — In this paper, 

 Dr. Oberholser again comes to the support of the Pt. Barrow Gull, a form 

 originally separated from the Glaucous Gull by Mr. Ridgway in 1886 as a 

 full species and so recognized in the second edition of the A. G U. ' Check- 

 List.' In 1906 after a study of a large scries of these birds Dr. J. Dwighl 

 came to the conclusion that the alleged differences were not sufficiently 

 marked to warrant recognition of Larus barrovianus and reduced the name 

 to a synonym of L. glaucus [ = hyperboreus] a view that was endorsed by 

 the A. G. U. Committee and it was omitted from the third edition of the 

 'Check-List.' In 1918, Dr. Oberholser in an elaborate paper published in 

 ' The Auk ' proposed to resurrect it as a subspecies, a view which Mr. 

 Ridgway, the 1 original describer of the form had failed to take in his ' Birds 

 of North and Middle America ' the eighth volume of which, containing the 

 Gulls appeared the next year. Dr. Dwight promptly met Dr. Oberholser's 

 attempt at resurrection with an additional attack on the validity of the 

 form and Dr. Oberholser now reappears in defence. All of this only 

 demonstrates that w ith the same material available two or more authori- 

 ties will have opposite opinions upon the recognition of subspecies based 

 upon such finely drawn distinctions as are now so prevalent in systematic 

 work. There is no " right " or " wrong " in such questions, it is simply a 

 matter of personal opinion. The only fair way of treating such cases in 

 our Check-Lists, it would seem, would be to state both views. Any other 

 method obscures the facts in the case. — Dr. Oberholser's final argument, 

 that a number of ornithologists to whom he had pointed out the char- 

 acters of L. barrovianus agreed with him, reminds one of the auctorum 

 plurimor idii principal once so popular in discussing problems of nomen- 

 clature! — W. S. 



Contributions to the Zoogeography of the Palaearctic Region. 2 — 

 This issue is the first part of a new publication and contains two papers by 

 Erwin Stressemann on the forms of the group /Egithalos caudatus and their 

 hybrids, of which M. c. romanus (p. 10) from Rome is described as new; 

 and on the European Bullfinches with a chart of their evolution. 



Of the former group he recognizes fourteen pure-blooded forms, which 

 he divides into three groups, and five hybrids. There is much discussion 

 upon the nature of these forms. 



Of the Bullfinches there are five races and one hybrid. Just where the 

 recognition of so many natural hybrids in addition to subspecies is going to 

 lead us it is hard to say. 



In America there seems to be but little necessity for such a hypothesis 



1 The Status of Larus hyperboreus barrovianus Ridgway. By Harry C. Oberholser. 

 Proc. Biol. Soe. Washington. Vol. 32, pp. 173-176. September 30, 1919. 



2 Beitrage zur Zoogeographie der palaarktischen Region. Herausgegeben von der 

 Ornithologist hen Gesellschaft in Bayern. Heft I. September 1">. 1919. Munchen 1919- 

 Gustav Fischer in Jena. Preis Mk. 5. 



