114 



General Note». [January 



deferred its acceptance until the proof could be seen. Any doubts which 

 I may have entertained in the matter have been thoroughly dispelled by 

 a series ofySpecimens which Dr. Gundlach has sent to the National 

 Museum. F. doniinicensis being the older name, F. sparveri'otdes ihere- 

 fore becomes a synonym. — Robert Ridgvvay, Washi)igton^ D. C. 



Strix pratincola again near Troy, N. Y. — On December 3, 1890, Mr. 

 Andrew Peters, of West Troy, N. Y., found a live American Barn Owl in 

 an old barn about a mile and a half west of the Hudson River at Troy. 

 He shot at the bird, and it flew out of the barn and away out of sight. 

 Crows soon found the Owl and began to mob it, so that Mr. Peters again 

 saw and shot the bird, and thus captured it. I found that this Owl 

 weighed 19 oz. av., including a two-ounce ball of hair and bones of mice 

 in its stomach; and that the bird was in full flesh, not fat at all, and was a 

 not very old female. — Austin F. Park, Troy, N'. T. 



American Barn Owl i^Strix pratincola^ on Long Island, N. Y. — On 

 the morning of Sept. 10, 1890, while at breakfast, I noticed the noisy outcries 

 of a number of Crows. Going out to investigate, I found them congre- 

 gated in a large oak tree, a number of which surround my home. Their 

 actions indicated the presence of an enemy, for they would swoop down 

 upon some object, rest a moment, and then fly back. I advanced to a 

 position from which the cause of the rough cries and excited actions of 

 the Crows was visible, immediately recognized the unusual visitor, and 

 in a minute or two, claimed him as my own. The specimen is a light- 

 colored male. — Frank E. Johnson, Parkville, Long Island, N. Y. 



Coccyzus americanus Breeding at Ottawa. — Last spring (1S90) a pair of 

 Yellow-billed Cuckoos built their nest in a crab tree in our garden. The 

 male and young escaped, but the female is now in my collection. — Geo. 

 R. White, Ottawa, Ontario. 



A new name necessary for Selasphorus floresii Gould. — If the so-called 

 genus Selasphorus is to be considered of merely subgeneric rank, as 

 seems to be generally admitted, a new name becomes necessary for this 

 species, a Trochilus floresii, from Jamaica, having been described in 1S46 

 by Bourcier, in the 'Revue Zoologique' for that year (1846). It would give 

 me pleasure to name the species thus deprived of a cognomen after Mr. 

 Gould, or some other person to whom we are specially indebted for our 

 knowledge of the Trockilidie; but unfortunately the names of such as 

 could be properly used in connection with the present species are already 

 attached to other species, and thus, so uncertain is the status of current 

 genera in this family, might conflict with their use in a new connection. 

 A descriptive name being therefore, under the circumstances, probably 

 the best, I would rechristen it Trochilus ruhromifratus (or Selasphorus 

 rubromitratus), in allusion to its red hood. — Robert Ridgway, Wash, 

 insrton, D. C. 



