576 General Notes. [^ 



mens from New York in Mrs. Blackburn's collection, taken, as practically 

 all her New York specimens were, near Hempstead, Long Island. It is of 

 interest in this connection to note that both Pennant and Latham appar- 

 ently had some suspicion that their Olive Tanager was the female of the 

 Scarlet Tanager, and their reasons for describing it as a separate species 

 are given in the following footnote by Pennant in Latham's work (Gen. 

 Synop. Birds, II, pt, 1, 17S3, p. 218): " From their being found at this 

 last place [New York], and my having such authority for describing both 

 sexes, I must conclude that the species is distinct; otherwise I should have 

 suspected it to have been the female of the last described [.Scarlet Tanager]." 

 In the description of the female of the " Olive Tanager," there is the infor- 

 mation, omitted by Gmelin in his diagnosis, that the " under sides of the 

 body [are] pale yellow," which is the chief difference between the adult 

 female of Piranga erythromelas and the transition plumage described above. 

 It is, therefore, evident that the male of Gmelin's Tanagra olivacea is the 

 Scarlet Tanager in this odd-looking transition plumage; and its female the 

 adult female of the Scarlet Tanager. 



Gmelin, Latham, and Pennant all cite " l'Olivet Buff." as a synonym, and 

 for this reason include Cayenne in the habitat, but the description given by 

 Buffon, based on a specimen from Cayenne, is possibly not of the female 

 Scarlet Tanager. At least, if it is, the alleged locality is probably wrong, 

 since the species is not known to occur in the Guianas. At any rate, this 

 description of Buffon does not figure at all in the diagnosis given by Gmelin, 

 by Latham, or by Pennant; hence in determining the identity of Tanagra 

 olivacea it may be disregarded as a possibly erroneous synonym. 



From the above discussion it appears that the technical name of the 

 Scarlet Tanager, now Piranga erythromelas (Vieillot), should become 

 Piranga olivacea (Gmelin), and its type locality, Hempstead, Long Island, 

 New York. — Harry C. Oberholser, Washington, D. C. 



The Tanagrine Genus Procnopis Cabanis. — Tangara (formerly 

 Calliste, Calospiza) is by far the largest genus of Tanagers, comprising 

 about sixty distinct species. These exhibit great diversity in coloration 

 and vary considerably in the form of the bill, but in other respects they 

 agree rather closely. 



On the one hand they are allied to the slender-billed genera Chlorochrysa 

 and Tanagrella and on the other hand to the small-billed genus Procnopis. 

 Of the latter Sclater (Cat. Birds Brit, Museum, XI, p. 93) remarks " This 

 little group of three species comes very close to Calliste, but has a shorter 

 and wider bill and rather longer wings in proportion." The difference in 

 the size and form of the bill between Procnopis and the majority of species 

 of Tangara is very marked. Unfortunately for the standing of Procnopis, 

 however, there are certain species of Tangara that in the form of the bill 

 agree essentially with the members of the former group. This is particu- 

 larly the case with T. nigroviridis , which in its small but wide, depressed bill, 

 with weak lower mandible and short gonys, is very similar to Procnopis. 



