154 Lawrence on the Grreater Long-Beak. 



is still within the equatorial belt. Oiu' Orioles, Tanagers, Grackles, 

 Hummingbirds, and Vultures, for example, are really but stragglers 

 or outlying species of groups that are mainly tropical. Even the 

 great fixmily of Wood-warblers (Mniotihicke) has species, indeed 

 whole genera, that are still confined within tropical limits, including 

 even species of that most characteristic North American genus 

 Dendrfieca. Even at the present time, the birds which breed in 

 tropical regions are, as a rule, sedentary, this being true also of 

 species which belong to wide-ranging genera, the representatives of 

 which, found in extra-tropical districts, are migratory. It may be 

 fairly inferred that the chai'acteristic groups of the lower latitudes 

 have originated within the areas of their present distribution, and 

 that their normal condition is that of sedentary birds. In the outly- 

 ing species of such groups, which visit high latitudes to breed, the 

 instinct of migration may be supposed to have been of gradual de- 

 velopment, induced by the struggle for existence and the climatal 

 changes that have rendered migration advantageous. The fact of 

 many species being in part migratory and in part sedentary, in ac- 

 cordance with the breeding station of the individual, seems to point, 

 not only to the gradual extension of such species from warm to 

 colder districts, as indicated by other considerations, but to the 

 comparatively recent origin of the instinct of migration, in virtue of 

 the causes and in the manner already detailed. 



THE GREATER LONG-BEAK, MACRORHAMPHUS SCOLO- 

 PACEUS (SAY). 



BY NEWBOLD T. LAWRENCE. 



As this bird seems to be held by certain eminent ornithologists 

 to be rather a doubtful species or even variety, I should like to give 

 my experience with it on the south side of Long Island, where I have 

 had the pleasure of securing four specimens and noting two othei's, 

 and also give the result of the examination of some forty specimens 

 of both birds. Dr. Elliott Coues says : " The supposed species 

 {M. scolopaceus), based on larger size and larger bill, is not even 

 entitled to rank as a variety. Almost any flock contains a per cent 

 of such individuals. The difference in these respects is merely the 



