402 NOKTII AMKliU'AN lUIlDS. 



(18(11, .STf); 1803, 4(»: aii.l 18»;'», 18(1) Ikmii^' iiindcls of oniitli<.louical rriti- 

 cisiii ami discussimi. His lalwiis have t*iiJil>k'(l us to (l»'tin«' w itii jmrisitm llie 

 various forms, lioth Kuropcau ami Aint'ricau, found in iUv ^'t'uus, and have 

 brou^dit us to satisfactory eoiiclusiuus in ruferenct' to tlirir limitations. 



Mr. Iiidi^'Nvay lias lately made a eareful revision of the specimens (d' ^Kijio- 

 thuH in the Smithsonian colleetion, an<l with a ;j:«'neral ecunurreiice in the 

 conclusions of Pr. Coues in ri'gard to the dilVeiences ohservalth', he sug- 

 gests, as an application of the laws more recently verified l>y liim and myself 

 in our examination of the N«uth Ami'rican land-)>inls, that \\v may best con- 

 siiler the actual species to he two in numU'r, namely, nnn:stran and lindrlas^ 

 ranging the other forms under these, either as geograpliical r.ices or as sea- 

 sonal stages. IJearmg in mind the general law that the more boreal or 

 Greenland-lM)rn specimens should i»e larger tiian the more southern or Con- 

 tinental, and that tlu^ peculiar «lark plumage of fifscrscnts and rosfrnttts 

 only occurs in summer breeding specinu'us, he considers these as identical 

 with fuiifriitsiiud hollnVli ; the winter plumages respectively of the same two 

 races of one species, Jinm-iiis; the latter race, /to/hn//i, being the larger or 

 Greenland form. If ftiscfsmis be darker than summer linuriiis from Ku- 

 rope, it is simply another instance of the darker tints of Arctic American 

 birds as compared with Kuropean. ' ' 



^EyiuthaH atntsirns and i.iili^ua Mr. IJidgway considers as the (Ireeidaiid 

 (larger) and Continental (smaller) races of one species, which perhaps do not 

 ditl'er so much with season as do those of linariufi. The ditterences in the 

 size and prot>ortions of bill, and perhaps of feet, Mr. IJidgway does not think 

 of nmch importance, as great variations are observalde in this respect in 

 specimens from the same locality, and the actual differences of the bill are 

 obscured by the greater length of the bristly feathers around its base in 

 winter, making it appear considerably shorter. Indeed, Profes.sor Alfred 

 Xewton maintains that the same bird will have the bill considerably longer 

 in sunnuer, after living on soft insect food, and shorter in winter when worn 

 down by use on haid seeds. Mr. Iiidgway finds, too, that specimens of Nna- 

 rins from Kodiak differ in a much longer and more slendtT bill than usual, 

 in this respect resendding Alaska specimens of sevend other Fringillida:. 



The following .synopsis expresses Mr. Iiidgway 's views as indicated above : 

 a critical examination of a series of more than two hundred specimens, in 

 the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, being the basis of his con- 

 clusions. — S. F. B. 



Species a»d Varieties. 



Common Ciiaractkrs. AdnH. Above .^^treaked with dusky upon a brownish, 

 or brown and whiti.sli, ground : wlnjr-coverts tij)ped with whitish or pale bnjwn. 

 Beneath whitisli, streaked on the sides with dusky. An indistinct, liprhter super- 

 ciliary stripe. Male. Rump tinired with rose-pink. Female. Rump not tinged 

 with pinkish. Juv. Without any red, and with the whole lower parts thickly 

 streaked. 



