iSgi-l DwUiHi (;/, yn/ico ca rolii/oisis 2QI 



senible northern examples, but several arc quite typical of the 

 southern form. A certain sootiness about some of them may he. 

 attributed to the fact tliat they were obtained in a region where 

 coke ovens abound. The yoimg and fem.des are practically 

 indistinguishable tVom the northern birds. The bills of fresh 

 specimens were largely flesh-colored and vary considerably in 

 size. Regartiing five males I sent Mr. Brewster for comparison^ 

 he writes : " Nos. 290S, 2885 and 2S86 are indistinguishable 

 in color from breeding New England specimens (JVJass. and 

 N. H.), but they are larger and have larger Inlls. No. 3936 

 seems to be about intermediate between New England Juncos and 

 carolinensis. No. 2SS7 is so very close to caroUnensis that I 

 cannot find any important diflerences. Taken as a whole your 

 series indisputably furnishes the connecting links between the 

 Junco that breeds in New England and his representative in 

 Western North Carolina. This is precisely wiiat we should 

 expect, is it not.''" " Of course," every one will say, and even 

 Mr. Brewster himself in his original description of carolinensis 

 writes: "'Among a smaller number [of hycnialls'] taken in 

 early spring at Washington, D. C, however, are several with 

 bills colored precisely as in the North Carolina birds. In other 

 respects, however, these specimens are identical with hyemalls 

 proper. It is probable that they represent the form which breeds 

 in the mountains of Virginia and Pennsylvania and which 

 naturally would be in varying degrees intermediate between 

 extreme northern and southern types." 



And yet in the face of such probabilities, after carolinensis has 

 rested as a subspecies for several years and been written about 

 by several observers who have met with it in Tennessee and Vir- 

 ginia as well as in North Carolina, it is suddenly raised to the rank 

 of a full species. Now it looks as if it must be considered a sub- 

 species again. The trouble seems to originate in the assumption 

 that every newly described bird should stand as a species until 

 proved a variety. Why not just as well expect every variety to 

 stmd as such until proved to be a species.? The present instance 

 would furnish, I think, an excellent text for a sermon upon the 

 evils of nomenclature. I only wish, however, to call attention to 

 it, for the case of carolinensis is but typical of others that have 

 occurred and are still more likely to occur again. Although Mr. 

 Brewster was quite right in the first place, the same cannot be 



