208 General Notes. \_K% 



Rhodostethia rosea • it breeds onlj within the Arctic circle, and even 

 beyond lat. 83°. The Brant stock lias differentiated along three lines, now 

 recognizable, and fairly well represented in different longitudinal areas. 

 The most distinction has been acquired by B. nigricans, in which, besides 

 the black belly, there is a large and nearly complete white collar, shown 

 by neither of the other two; in other words, the Black Brant buttons its 

 collar in front, and wears a black vest. This is probably a specific char- 

 acter. Waiving the question of taxonomic rank, I wish to call attention 

 to the fact that, as shown by Mr. Seebohm (Hist. B. B., VI, p. 508, 1885), 

 two races of B. bernicla are distinguishable, and ours is the one which 

 needs a name. It is true that the difference between them is not great, 

 and not strictly correspondent with geographical distribution; and that 

 Salvadori makes no distinction (Cat. B. Br. Mus., XXVII, 1895, p. 119). 

 But a difference does exist, it is to some extent geographical, and I could 

 name perhaps fifty birds in the A. O. U. List with no better claim to 

 recognition by subspecific name. The white-bellied bird, largely or 

 mainly North American, is Bernicla glaucogaster Bi-ehm, Isis, 1830, p. 996, 

 ti07ne?i nudum; B. brenta, a. glaucogaster Bp., C. R., 1856, p. 648; and 

 Anser brenta glaucogaster Seebohm, /. c, where the distinction is pointed 

 out in the following terms : " In the Taimur peninsula, in Nova Zembla, 

 Franz-Joseph Land, and Spitzbergen typical Anser brenta breeds, having 

 the under parts generally as dark as those of the Pacific species [our 

 B. nigricans^, but with the white on the sides of the neck not meeting in 

 front. In Arctic America, from the west coast of Greenland as far 

 west as the Parry Islands, and north of lat. 73° as far as land is known 

 to extend, the white-bellied form of the Brent Goose {Anser brenta glau- 

 cogaster) breeds; it has the underparts below the breast almost pure 

 white and the white on the sides of the neck does not meet in front. Both 

 the two latter races and intermediate forms between them occur on our 

 [British] coasts ; but the white-bellied form is much the rarer of the 

 two." This is in substance the evidence upon which I propose that we 

 recognize Branta bernicla glaucogastra in the A. O. U. List. — Elliott 

 CoUES, Washington, D. C. 



The Wood Ibis in Virginia and Maryland. — On Julv20, 1S96, an adult 

 Tantalus loculator was killed by Mr. Rudolph Thiele in his barnyard at 

 Silver Hill, Maryland, near the District of Columbia line. There were 

 two; the other, an immature bird, flew away about half a mile and was 

 killed soon afterwards on the same day by Mr. Arthur Suit of Suitland. 

 Both were mounted for the above named gentlemen, and I saw the fresh 

 skins. On the 27th of the same month another, an immature female, was 

 shot in an oat field near Laurel, Maryland, and sold to and mounted by 

 Mr. Geo. Marshall of that place, in whose collection it now is. On July 

 18, 1896, three others, an adult and two immature birds, were shot by two 

 boys at Vinitarville, Goochland County, Virginia, and the wings and 



