1890.] Elliot on the Genus Dendrornis. ID"? 



knowing what species was intended by a name only, I would men- 

 tion the three species, susurrans, fiardalotus and nana, which 

 have been confounded together by most writers, but which my 

 material shows are quite separable. To quote any of these, 

 especially the last (which seems not to have been distinguished 

 at all by many authors), where a name only was given, with per- 

 haps no authentic locality, would possibly only serve to perpetu- 

 ate an existing error. I have therefore given only such synonomy 

 as I was able to verify with some considerable degree of certainty. 

 Seven described species I have not seen, and they are not repre- 

 sented, so far as I am aware, by any specimen in the United 

 States. They are kieneri, ocellata, elcgaits, spixi, ftalliata, 

 polysticta, and obsolettts* I have therefore given the original 

 descriptions without any comments, as it is impossible to defi- 

 nitely fix their specific status without seeing the t3'pes. 



It only remains for me to express my thanks to those gentlemen 

 who have aided me by the loan of specimens, and kindly given such 

 other assistance as was in their power, among whom I would es- 

 pecially mention Mr. C. B. Cory for the large series of specimens 

 and types from the Lafresnaye collection, without which no 

 conclusive or satisfactory paper could be written on this genus ; 

 Mr. R. Ridgway of the National Museum, Washington ; Mr. 

 \V. Brewster of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cam- 

 bridge, Mass. ; Mr. W. Stone of the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, Philadelphia ; Prof. J. A. Allen and Mr. F. M. Chap- 

 man of the American Museum of Natural History, New York ; 

 and Mr. Geo. B. Sennett. 



Literature of the Genus. 



In reviewing the literature of Dendrornis, I confine myself 

 mainly to those authors and works by which new species have 

 been introduced to ornithologists ; or to those where certain forms 

 are described that our present knowledge hardly permits us to ac- 

 cept as entirely worthy ofoccup}'ing distinct positions among the 



* Of the above desiderata, specimens of ocellata, elegans, and spixi, collected by 

 Natterer, have been forwarded to the American Museum of Natural History from the 

 Vienna Museum, but have not been received in time for me to remark upon them in 

 this paper. [See p. 207 of this number of 'The Auk.' — Ed.] 



