VoL ^g XVI ] General Notes. 115 



Zamelodia versus Hedymeles. — The generic name Zamelodia Coues 

 has been, during recent years, in general use for our North American Rose- 

 breasted and Black-headed Grosbeaks. This generic term was originally 

 proposed by Dr. Elliott Coues (Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, V, No. 2, April, 

 1880, p. 98) for Loxia ludoviciana Linnaeus and Guiraca melanocephala 

 Swainson, because Hedymeles Cabanis (Mus. Hein., I, June, 1851, p. 152; 

 type by subsequent designation [Gray, Cat. Gen. and Subgen. Birds Brit. 

 Mus., 1855, p. 71J, Loxia ludovicianus Linnaeus) was supposedly invalidated 

 by Hedymela Sundevall (Ofvers. Kongl. Vetensk.-Akad. Forhandl. Stock- 

 holm, 1846 (1847, p. 225) for a genus of Muscicapidas. Although Habia 

 Reichenbach nee Blyth was for a considerable period used by American 

 ornithologists for this group, Zamelodia was restored by Dr. Coues (The 

 Auk, XIV, No. 1, January, 1897, pp. 39-42) when Habia was found to be 

 preoccupied. The generic name Hedymeles Cabanis is not, however, 

 according to either the International Code or to Canon XXX of the revised 

 American Ornithologists' Union Code of Nomenclature, to be rejected on 

 account of Hedymela, since it is a word with a different classical termination 

 other than grammatical gender. In fact, it is a case exactly parallel to 

 that of Hydrobata and Hydrobates (cf. Hartert, Hand-List British Birds, 

 1912, p. 149). It should, therefore, displace Zamelodia, and the two 

 species of the group stand as 



Hedymeles ludovicianus (Linnaeus) . 



Hedymeles melanocephalus (Swainson). 



Harry C. Oberholser, Washington, D. C. 



Rough-winged Swallow, Unusual Nesting Sites. — A number of 

 years ago a concrete retaining wall was built along the bank of Grand 

 River, midway between the top and bottom, to protect the street above 

 from the annual spring slipping. Three-inch iron drainage pipes were 

 placed at intervals of a few feet and these pipes projected some two or 

 three feet out of the face of the wall. The Rough-winged Swallows used 

 these pipes yearly as nesting sites, continuing the practice until the wall 

 itself slipped into the river below. 



At least half a dozen pipes were occupied each year by the birds, although 

 a few hundred feet up the river was a long extent of high shale bank with 

 many cracks and fissures, the natural site of the species, and which is 

 used at the present time as a nesting community tor a number of pairs. 

 This is the only instance I have seen, nor have I yet found in print any 

 record of the Rough-wing departing from its usual nesting custom. — E. A. 

 D< " '"> little, Painesville, Ohio. 



Late Nesting of the Red-eyed Vireo in Detroit, Mich.— While 

 hunting birds, with field glasses, on Belle Isle on the morning of September 

 25, I was startled by the appearance of a Red-eyed Vireo followed closely 

 by a young bird. The youngster flipped its wings and begged persistently 



