232 General Notes. 



Mr. Elliot is certainly entitled to the sincere thanks of ornithologists 

 the world over for this carefully elaborated " Synopsis " of the largest and 

 most interesting family of American birds. It will doubtless form a refer- 

 ence work for the group, not to be soon superseded, either in point of com- 

 pleteness or of usefulness. — J. A. A. 



Brewer on the Nests and Eggs of the Empidonaces. — In a 

 paper * of ten pages Dr. Brewer gives " the measurements of all the eggs 

 of the eight species of Empidonax that are in the collection of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution," and of those in his own collection, with the addition 

 of some others. Following the measurements and descriptions of the 

 nests and eggs of these eight species are several pages devoted to a con- 

 sideration of the nests and eggs of E. Jlaviventris, in which the author 

 affirms that the unspotted eggs, found in nests built in bushes, and for- 

 merly ascBibed by him to this species, were correctly identified, and argues 

 that the differences these nests and eggs present, as compared with those 

 recently described by Messrs. Osborne and Purdie, are only in accordance 

 with the wide range of variability in these respects known to obtain in 

 other species of this genus. — J. A. A. 



(general ^atc^. 



The Use of Trinomials. — As our practice for some time has been 

 a practical indorsement of the use of trinomials, it might appear almost 

 superfluous to offer further testimony in the matter. Nevertheless, in re- 

 sponse to Mr. Ridgway's recent call, a few brief remarks may be ventured. 



It is scarcely necessary to waste time in arguing upon the desirability 

 of some better method of expressing geographical varieties than that 

 afforded by the binomial system, so far at least as American ornithologists 

 are concerned, since, as stated by Mr. Allen, not alone they, but nearly 

 all American writers on other branches of zoology, as well as botany, con- 

 cede the necessity by discarding the binomial in favor of the trinomial in 

 some form or other. But if any argument were needed in favor of a 

 change it could be found in recent English and Continental ornithological 

 writings, where binomials are still closely adhered to. One of the most 

 perplexing evils resulting from such close adherence is frequently apparent 

 in the difiieulty or impossibility the student finds in discriminating between 



* Notes on the Nests and Eggs of the Eight North American Species of 



Empidonaces. By T. M. Brewer. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. I, pp. , 



x\pril 29, 1879. Also separate, author's edition, pp. 10. (Only the author's 

 separates have been seen by the reviewer.) 



