3§4 



Notes and News. [_ Oct. 



The principal criticism whose justice Mr. Rhoads denies, was upon his 

 lack of care and thoroughness. Many further evidences of this might he 

 shown, were it not too well illustrated by his own admissions in the Sth, 

 nth, and 13th paragraphs of the present letter, and by the fact that not even 

 now, in writing it, did he take the trouble to extend his 'bibliographical 

 researches' to such publications, for instance, as the Bulletin of the 

 Nuttall Club and the Bulletin of the American Museum. They would 

 have supplied him with records of several of the birds which he selects to 

 confound his reviewer. The following are records for all the species he 

 names : — 



Aythya americana — Hubbard, Zoe, III, 142. 



Colymbus holbcellii — Chapman, Bull. Am. Mus. N. H , III, 129, 155. 



Larusbrachyrhynchus — Chapman, Bull. Am. Mus. N. II., Ill, 130, 155. 



Totanus flavipes — Townsend, 'Narrative,' 335. 



Falco columbarius suckleyi — Brewster, Bull. N. O. C, VII, 227. 



Cypseloides niger — Hubbard, Zoe, III, 143. 



What he says about the lack of an exact type locality for Cha?tura vauxii 

 and for Dryobates pubcsccns gairdnerii, has nothing to do with the case. 

 Chcetura vauxii, Townsend explicitly states, came from the Columbia 

 River, and Audubon (for it was he who described the Woodpecker — 

 not Townsend as Mr. Rhoads has it) gives the same source for his type. 



More might have been said concerning his discussion of certain sub- 

 species, but it is hardly worth while. If Mr. Rhoads really does not care 

 "the toss of a penny" for "the fiat of a Committee on Nomenclature" as 

 to the value of his "determinations on the status" of such forms as Melo- 

 spiza lincolni striata and Sylvania pusilla pileolata, it is perhaps fortu- 

 nate for his peace of mind.— C. F. Batchelder.] 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Mr. Austin F. Park, an Associate Member of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union, died at his home in Troy, New York, September 22, 1S93, 

 aged68years. Mr. Park was born in Canaan, Columbia County, N. Y., 

 May 11, 1S25, and after a preparatory education entered the Rensselaer 

 Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, from which he was graduated in 1S41 with 

 the degree of Civil Engineer. He remained, however, for some time 

 longer at the Institute, as a student of chemistry, geology, botany and 

 natural history. Later he was engaged in engineering and surveying, and 

 afterwards as a mathematical and philosophical instrument maker, and was 



