^"'/gj/^] General Notes. 97 



bird occupies pp. 136-139 of the book named in tlie beginning of this 

 note. The specimen which I have selected as the type of cairnsi is in 

 Mr. Brewster's collection ; it is a ij, in full dress, and was collected by 

 Mr. Cairns. — Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C. 



Dendroica caerulea vs. Dendroica rara. — Syh'i'a ctsr/dea Wilson (Am. 

 Orn. II, iSio, 141, etc.), the earliest name for the Cerulean Warbler, is un- 

 fortunately preoccupied by Syh'i'a ccenilea Latham (Index Orn. II, 1790, 

 540), which is a synonym of Polioptila ccerulea (Linn.) ; hence, No. 658,. 

 of the A. O. U. Check-List becomes Z>c«^/'(?/c« rara (Wilson) {Sylvia 

 rarrt, Wilson, Am. Orn. Ill, 1811, 119, pi. 27, fig. 2). — Robert Ridg\vay> 

 Washington, D. C. 



Note on the Genus Lucar of Bartram. — The names given to many 

 North American birds by William Bartram in his ' Travels,' orig. ed. 

 1 791, are likely to raise nomenclatural questions until we come to some 

 conclusion whether they are to be accepted or rejected. At present our 

 usage wavers. The A. O. U. rejects most of liis names, on the ground 

 that he was not a strict binomialist ; yet it accepts the term Aphclocoma 

 floridana for the Jay named Corviis floridaniis by Bartram, Trav., p. 291. 

 Let us at least be consistent, if we cannot be just ! With regard to generic 

 names, if Bartram was not very orthodox in binomiality, neither was 

 Brisson, whose heterodoxy in this particular does not prevent us from 

 adopting his genera ; and the jewel of consistency requires us to treat both 

 these authors alike. On p. 2()obis of this book Bartram names the 

 genus Lucar, with formal indication of its type species, L. lividus. This 

 brings the case distinctly within our rules regarding generic names, 

 whether properly ' characterized ' or not, and disposes of the apparent 

 objection that it is a nomen nudum. For this bird is of course the 

 well-known Catbird, Bartram's specific name of which is the obvious 

 origin of Tardus lividus, Wilson, 1810. Bartram's lividus is antedated by 

 carolinensis Linn., 1766; but his Lucar antedates Galeoscoptes Cab., 1850. 

 As the Catbird is now removed from the genus Mimus, its only tenable 

 name would appear to be Lucar carolinensis Coues, Pr. Phila. Acad., 1875, 

 P- 349- — Elliott Coues, Washington, D. C. 



Breeding of the Carolina Wren (IViryothorus ludovicianus) on Long 

 Island, N. Y— On the 20th of March, 1896,1 heard a Carolina Wren in 

 a swamp near my home in Roslyn, Queen's Co., N. Y. Knowing it to be 

 rare on Long Island I decided to watch it as closely as possible, hoping 

 it inight have a mate. 



The village of Roslyn is situated at the head of Hampstead Harbor, 

 and is shut in by hills on three sides. There are three ponds in the vil- 

 lage, a few hundred feet apart, with swamp land between, and being in a 

 row, one above the other, they divide the village in two parts. Between 

 the highest pond and the second one is a swamp three or four acres in 

 13 



