138 Letters, Extracts, Notices, <S)T. 



XI. — Letters, Extracts, Notices, ^c. 



We have received the following letters, addressed " to the 

 Editors of The Ibis''':— 



Sirs, — In a list of Swatow and Foochow birds published 

 in ' The Ibis ' for 1892, 1 stated that Sterna hirundo breeds on 

 the Swatow coast in company with S. melanauchen. I have 

 now reason to believe that the birds in question were not 

 S. hirundo, but S. dougalli. Mr. Rickett and I have lately- 

 received a specimen of this species said to have been shot 

 about the Shanghai coast, and, so far as I can remember, it 

 agrees with the specimens shot by me and my collector at 

 Swatow, and which I wrongly referred to S. hirundo. 



I am. 

 Yours faithfully, 



J. D. DE La Touche. 

 Foochow, 

 July 30tli, 1896. 



Sirs, — In the last number of 'The Ibis ' Mr. Sclater has 

 a note on the " Nomenclature of the Palamedeidce." He says 

 that I " have lately shown (Cat. B. xxvii. p. 4) that Pala- 

 medea [more correctly Parra'] chavaria of Linnaeus was 

 probably based on a Colombian specimen.'' I must remark 

 that I have not left the point as probable ; Linne's description 

 and locality (Carthagena), both derived from Jacquin, being 

 quite clear, I cannot entertain the least doubt about their 

 applying to the Colombian Crested Screamer, and not to the 

 Argentine representative species. Such being the case, I 

 could not hesitate in restoring Linne's name to the Colom- 

 bian bird, to which only it belongs. If authors, beginning 

 with Illiger (1811), have confused the two species, or have 

 wrongly used Linne's name for the Argentine bird, it is 

 their fault, and, according to me, we have no right whatever 

 to discard Linne's name on the pretence of uncertainty. 

 Now that ornithologists are aware that the name Chauna 

 chavaria (Linn.) belongs to the Colombian and not to the 

 Argentine bird, every possible uncertainty will be dispelled, 



