Vul-XXVII"| Bishop, New Subspecies of North American Birds. 51 



form breeding in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, being consider- 

 ably smaller with much shorter and more slender bill; but the fact 

 that both forms occur in our Southwest and in Mexico in the mi- 

 gration and in winter has made the demonstration difficult, since 

 the majority of specimens in collections from these latter localities 

 were not taken during the breeding season. However, by the aid 

 of the series in the American Museum of Natural History and the 

 collection of Dr. Dwight, I have been able to find enough probably 

 breeding birds to show the marked difference in size that exists be- 

 tween northern and southern birds. Breeding birds from Wyoming 

 and South Dakota, though intermediate, are nearer the northern 

 race, while the only specimen from California I have seen — taken 

 in January — is referable to the southern bird. On the Atlantic 

 coast the Long-billed Curlew is now practically extinct, and there 

 are very few specimens of it preserved in collections, but the three 

 I have measured so manifestly belong to the southern race that 

 there can be no doubt to which N. longirostris Wilson applied, even 

 if Wilson had not stated "the bill is eight inches long." Dr. Wood- 

 house's N. occidentalis having been collected in "New Mexico, 

 upon the Rio Grande," before August 1, on which date Sitgreave's 

 expedition left this point for further west, was evidently the young 

 of iV. a. americarms. Numenius americanum Bechstein also 

 being based on a bird from the Atlantic coast leaves the northwest 

 form without a name, and I have called it parvus because of its 

 small size. 



As we already have the "Eskimo" and "Hudsonian" Curlews, 

 "Canadian" and "American" would seem appropriate EngUsh 

 names for the races of iV. americanus. 



Molothrus ater dwighti subsp. nov. 

 Northern Cowbird. 



Type. — c? adult, No. 15759, Coll. of Louis B. Bishop; Crane Lake, 

 Saskatchewan, June 24, 1906; L. B. B. 



Subspecific characters. — Similar to Molothrus ater ater, but considerably 

 larger and with more slender bill. 



Summer range. — Saskatchewan to North Dakota. 



Measurements of type. — Length, 8.69; extent, 14.44; wing, 4.61; tail, 

 3.51; culmen, 76; bill from nostril, .53; depth of bill at base, .48; tarsus, 

 1.13 inches. 



