Vo ™ YI ] General Notes. 569 



Buteonidae versus Accipitridae. — The name of the family of Falconi- 

 formes, now called Buteonidae. has been recently changed to Aquilidse by 

 Dr. Ernst Hartert (Vogel Palaarkt. Fauna, Heft VIII [Vol. 2, Heft II], 

 August, 1913, p. 1087). If this alteration was made because the generic 

 name Aquila Brisson (Ornith., I, 1760, p. 419) was supposed to be the 

 genus in this family first described, the fact that Accipiter Brisson appeared 

 on an earlier page of the same volume (Ornith., I, 1760, p. 310) was appar- 

 ently overlooked. Hence, if the earliest described generic name be con- 

 sidered the necessary basis for the family name, the family of birds now 

 known as Buteonidae must be called Accipitridse instead of Aquilidse. 

 If, on the other hand, we consider that the type genus of this group is the 

 one on which the family name was first based, the designation of this family 

 will still become Accipitridse ; since Vigors (Zool. Journ., I, 1824, p. 316), 

 who was the first to subdivide the original family Falconidae, created five 

 groups, which he called " Stirps," as follows: Accipitrina, Falconina, 

 Buteonina, Milvina, and Aquilina; and in seeking a name for the remainder 

 of the family after the separation of the true Falcons, we must take the 

 first mentioned group in Vigors' list, which is, of course, Accipitrina, based 

 on Accipiter, as the type genus. Thus, if we determine the proper family 

 name of the Buteonidse by either of these two rules, its designation will 

 become Accipitridse. — Harry C. Oberholser, Washington, D. C. 



Snowy Owl in Detroit, Mich. — A fine male specimen of the Snowy 

 Owl (Nyctea nyctea), in perfect winter plumage, was captured on Belle 

 Isle, Detroit, April 14, by Mr. Robert Flowerday, superintendent of the 

 park, and is now in a cage at the Zoo. The bird was shot twice, and so badly 

 wounded that it was believed at the time that it would not survive, but it 

 was cared for successfully, although at first refusing to eat. So far as is 

 known, this is the first time that a Snowy Owl has come to this vicinity 

 and remained so late, although there is a previous record (Taverner) of one 

 having been seen at the Flats, April 5, 1906. The late wandering of this 

 bird is all the more remarkable from the fact that the winter was one of 

 exceptional mildness during all the months. — Etta S. Wilson, Detroit, 

 Mich. 



The Name of the Black Cuckoo.— Hartert (Nov. Zool., X, 1903, p. 

 232), in his review of the genus Eudynamys, considered it logical to treat 

 the forms of the Black Cuckoo as subspecies of orientalis, based on Cuculus 

 orientalis Linne (Syst. Nat., I, 1766, p. 168), which he regarded as the oldest 

 name, and which in the twelfth edition of Linne has page precedence over 

 C. honoratus, C. scolopaceus, and C. niger. At present the name orientalis 

 is restricted to the bird from Southern Moluccas, while honoratus is applied 

 to the Indian bird, with scolopaceus and niger, both from Bengal, as syno- 

 nyms. As a matter of fact, however, the names C. scolopaceus and C. niger 

 had previously been used by Linne in the tenth edition (Syst. Nat., I, 1758, 

 p. Ill), based respectively on " The Brown and Spotted Indian Cuckow " 



