HYPOTHETICAL LIST 389 



garded as hypothetical. Even should an apparently typical 

 example be taken, it could never be proved that such a 

 specimen did not merely show that individual variation of the 

 subspecies normally present was greater than formerly 

 supposed. 



PAINTED BUNTING (Passerina cms) 



While specimens of this beautiful southern Finch have 

 unquestionably been taken in the vicinity of New York City, 

 the captures were all made at a period when it was a popular 

 cage-bird. Under these circumstances it is impossible to 

 prove that any given specimen was a truly wild bird. More- 

 over it is not without significance that no capture was ever 

 made before it became a popular cage-bird, or since that 

 traffic was stopped. The species should be removed from 

 the list of New York State birds, and its occurrence in our 

 area in a wild state is purely hypothetical. 



