i 9 4 



[Auk 

 July 



they not so utterly nonsensical and misleading. The remarks to 

 which I refer read as follows : "I fully anticipate that I shall be 

 blamed by some for having united all the Nearctic '■species' of 

 Lagopus described by American authors with L. rupestris; but 

 I am sure that unless the practice be adopted of distinguishing 

 every individual variation or slight climatic variety by a 

 separate specific name, a careful study of these birds will lead to 

 the same conclusion as that to which I have arrived." 



The words which I have italicized in the above quotation 

 express exactly what American ornithologists have not done ; in 

 fact, to do so would be as far as possible from their principles 

 and practice. None of the subspecies of L. rupestris recognized 

 in the A. O. U. Check-List are founded on individual variations, 

 but on constant differences between specimens of corresponding 

 seasonal and sexual plumages from distinct geographical areas. 

 Some of these subspecies may be considered "slight climatic 

 varieties," it is true ; but their characters, however slight, are 

 constant. These geographical forms are not recognized as 

 "species," as Mr. Ogilvie-Grant intimates, but are distinctly 

 ranked as subspecies — a distinction which some people seem to 

 he unable to comprehend. Furthermore, these subspecies are, 

 in most cases, based on a far larger series of specimens than are 

 possessed by the British Museum. 1 



To assume that American ornithologists do not recognize the 

 vast difference between individual variations and those of a 

 climatic or geographical character is to acknowledge inexcusable 

 ignorance of their work or inability to understand the very simple 

 and logical principles upon which it is based. 



The subspecies selected for illustration of this article, along with 

 its conspecific type, is perhaps the least satisfactorily differentiated 

 of the forms which are suppressed in the 'Catalogue of the Game 

 Birds.' The characters on which Oreortyx pictus plumiferus 

 was separated from O. pictus proper consist in its much grayer 

 coloration, with the whole hind-neck and upper back usually 

 bluish gray instead of rich brown, like the back. Mr. Ogilvie- 

 Grant, in his comments on the validity of the form (Cat. B. Brit. 



i Of Lagopus rupestris atkhensis, for example, the U. S. National Museum possesses 

 29 specimens in summer plumage (May to middle of July), and of L. r. nelsons, 25 

 specimens of corresponding dates. 



