Volg.'^IVJ General Notes. 313 



All but the second were purchased from various stands on Virginia 

 Ave., N. W., between 9th and loth Sts., and were found on careful 

 inquiry to have been killed by gunners at points between Washington 

 and Alexandria. The second was killed by a gunner, who gave the bird 

 to George Ajers of Alexandria, Va., who sent it to the Smithsonian 

 Institution, where it now forms No. 154200 of the U. S. N. M. Collection. 

 It was said to have been the only one seen. Nos. 3, 4, and 6 form Nos. 

 2284, 2286 and 2289 of my collection, and the 5th is in the collection of 

 Mr. William Palmer of this place. — Paul Bartsch, Smithsonian Insti- 

 tutiofi, Washington^ D. C. 



Note on Pagophila alba. — The attempt made (Pr. U. S.Nat. Mus. V, 

 June, 1882, p. 39) to supersede the established generic name Pagophila 

 by the derelict term " Gavia" has been temporarily effectual through 

 the adoption of Gavia by the A. O. U. on the strength of Dr. Stejneger's 

 misrepresentation, but is not likely to prove more successful than some 

 other blunders that could be named. Gavia is traceable back to Pliny, 

 as equivalent to Greek \apos, Lat. lartis, a gull; and is said to be still 

 an Italian word for ' gull.' Passing by its use by Moehring in 1752 as 

 equivalent to Larus, and its employ by Brisson in 1760 as a term in the 

 polynomial designations of various Gulls — for these instances do not 

 affect the nomenclatural point I raise — we come to Gavia, Forster, 

 Enchirid. Nat. Hist. 17SS, p. 38. This is said by Newton (Diet., p. 310) 

 to be a genus of water birds, with no type named; but according to this 

 high authority, Forster's "diagnosis indicates that he meant what is 

 most commonly called Colymbus. " There are various other later appli- 

 cations of Gavia as a generic name of certain Gulls and Plovers, notably 

 one by Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563, to a genus containing Larus ebuineus and 

 L. rissa ; but Boie's employ of Gavia in this connection is voided by our 

 rules in consequence of Forster's prior use of Gavia for a genus of Divers. 

 Waiving other objections to Gavia which Mr. How-ard Saunders has 

 indicated (Cat. B. Brit. Mus. XXV, 1896, p. 301) and Professor Newton 

 has specified (/. c), we see that Forster's Gavia, 1788, debars Boie's 

 Gavia, 1S22. Pagophila Kaup, 1829, is thus in order as the tenable 

 generic name of the Ivory Gull, P. alba. It is to be hoped that the next 

 edition of the Check-List will correct the error into which the A. O. U. 

 has been misled by relying upon unreliable evidence. — Elliott Coues, 

 Washington, D- C. 



Arrival of Terns at Penikese Island in 1897. — Penikese Island, May 

 6, 1897. Up to last night no Terns had been noted in this locality. 

 Early this morning they appeared in quite a considerable body. They 

 all departed the next day, returning in a day or two; their numbers being 

 greatly augmented. The first egg was observed on the afternoon of May 

 23. No more were discovered until the 25th, when four were noted. On 

 May 29, 30, 31, quite a number of nests with one egg each, several wath 

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