474 Recent Literature. \_ovt 



21 species and 11 additional subspecies, of which 4 species and 6 subspecies 

 are described as new. The group is divided into two subgenera, Collocalia, 

 with the tarsus entirely unfeathered, and Aerodramus (subgen. nov.), 

 with the tarsus more or less feathered. This is the sole character separat- 

 ing the groups, and while very marked in some species is "sometimes 

 difficult to appreciate." The material on which this investigation is 

 based — 159 specimens — is principally of recent collection, and represents 

 very nearly all the recognized forms. An elaborate key to the species 

 and subspecies facilitates their determination. — J. A. A. 



New Names for North American Birds. — Mr. Oberholser claims l 

 to have discovered an earlier name for Brewster's Melospiza lincolnii 

 striata in Emberiza (Zonotrichia) gracilis Kittlitz, published in 1858 and 

 based on specimens from Sitka, Alaska. The two-line description, so 

 far as it goes, seems to point to this bird rather than to either of the other 

 small sparrows of that locality. 



He also proposes 2 to adopt funerea in place of ulula for the European 

 Hawk Owl, as both names admittedly refer to the same species, and 

 ulula stands first on the page. The names of the two forms will thus 

 stand as Surnia funerea funerea (Linn.) and S. f. caparoch (Mull.). 



An earlier name for the Scarlet Tanager, he states, 3 is found in Loxia 

 mexicana Linn., so that this species should stand as Piranga mexicana 

 (Linn.). 



Mr. Bangs has also wrestled anew with the old question of the technical 

 names of the Passenger Pigeon and the Mourning Dove. 4 In the tenth 

 edition of his 'Systema Naturae' (1758) Linnaeus described a pigeon as 

 Coluynba macroura, based on references to both the Mourning Dove (plate 

 15 of Edwards) and the Passenger Pigeon (plate 25 of Catesby); but 

 Mr. Bangs shows that Linnaeus took his brief diagnosis and habitat from 

 Catesby's plate and description of the Passenger Pigeon, for which the 

 name macroura is hence to be retained, although of late currently applied 

 to the Mourning Dove. The name for the latter must therefore be taken 

 from Linnaeus 's twelfth edition (1766), where the name macroura is aban- 

 doned and the two species are each provided with wholly new names, the 

 Passenger Pigeon being called Columba migratoria and the Mourning Dove 

 Columba carolinensis. At the same time, the reference to Edwards (the 

 West Indian form of the Mourning Dove) is made the basis of a third 

 species, named Columba marginata, which antedates the name bella recently 

 given to this race by Palmer and Riley. The names of these birds thus 



1 An Earlier Name for Melospiza lincolnii striata. By Harry C. Oberholser. Proc. 

 Biol. Soc. Washington, XIX, p. 42, Feb. 26, 1906. 



2 The Specific Name of the Hawk Owls. Ibid., pp. 42, 43. 



3 Piranga erythromelas versus Piranga mexicana. Ibid, p. 43. 



4 The Names of the Passenger Pigeon and the Mourning Dove. By Outram 

 Bangs. Ibid., pp. 43, 44. 



