45^ General Notes [july 



"Kniissel, Calidris. 



Schnabel walzenformig, gegen die Spitze hin dicker, glatt. Mittlere 



und aussere Zehe etwas verbunden. 

 Tringa calidris, arenaria u. a." 

 The Tringa calidris here mentioned should by tautonymy be considered 

 the type of Calidris [Anonymous], although the other species mentioned, 

 [Tringa] arenaria, has as a synonym the same specific name calidris 

 ( = Charadrius calidris Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, I, 1766, p. 255). 

 In such cases of tautonymy it seems by all means more logical to con- 

 sider as the type the species the cited name of which is the same as the 

 generic name proposed, rather than the species having the same name 

 as a synomyn. 



The type of Calidris Anonymous being thus settled as Tringa calidris, 

 it remains to determine the identity of this Tringa calidris. It is, of 

 course, the Tringa calidris of Bechstein (Ornith. Taschenb. Deutschl., 

 1803, p. 308), which is in turn the Tringa calidris of Linnaeus, (i. e., Gmelin) 

 since Bechstein quotes il T\ringa\ calidris Linn." and "Linne, 1. c, p. 681, 

 N. 19," which latter, of course, refers only to Gmelin. But Tringa calidris 

 Linnaeus (Syst. Nat., ed. 12, I, 1766, p. 252) and Tringa calidris Gmelin 

 (Syst. Nat. I, ii, 1789, p. 681) are, anyway, one and the same; and as is 

 unmistakably shown by the diagnoses of both and by the descriptions 

 given by the authors on which both are based, they both clearly refer to 

 the Knot, Tringa canutus Linnaeus; not to the Redshank, Totanus totanus 

 (Linnaeus), as intimated by Mathews and Iredale (Austral Avian Record, 

 III, No. 5, December 26, 1917, p. 114). This unexpected development 

 makes it necessary to use the generic name Calidris Anonymous for the 

 Knot, which will, therefore, now stand as 



Calidris canutus (Linnaeus.) 



This use of the generic name Calidris, of course, precludes its employ- 

 ment for the Sanderling just as effectively as though it were to be em- 

 ployed for the Red-shank. Consequently the substitution of the generic 

 name Crocethia Billberg for the Sanderling, made by Messrs. Mathews 

 and Iredale (Austral. Avian Record, III, No. 5, December 26, 1917, p. 

 114), remains valid, even though they misidentified the Tringa calidris 

 on which Calidris Anonymous is based. — Harry C. Oberholser, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



Early Virginia Rail in New York.— On March 13, 1920, Mr. William 

 Gee, of Stony Point, N. Y., picked up a Virginia Rail at Bear Mountain, 

 near Stony Point. The bird evidently had been killed by flying into 

 telegraph wires. It was sent to me for identification by Mr. Fred E. 

 Sleight, Principal of the Stony Point High School, and the record seems 

 unusual enough to be reported to 'The Auk.'- — Lee S. Crandall, N. Y. 

 Zoological Park. 



