Beccnt Literature. 177 



(which seems not impracticable) to wliich the accumulated observations 

 of past years, together with the reports of each jDassing season, could be 

 sent and elaborated, we should soon be in possession of a sure basis for 

 generalization, and not till then can it be expected. The work so ear- 

 nestly begun by Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Cordeaux should be a stimulus 

 to concurrent action on the part of others, and nowhere are the conditions 

 more favorable for systematic work than in the United States. — J. A. A. 



RiDGWAY ON THE NOMENCLATURE OF NoRTH AMERICAN BiRDS. — 



Simultaneously with the publication in the last number of the Bulletin of 

 Dr. Coues's " Notes and Queries " concerning this subject, appeared a 

 paper of similar character by Mr. Ridgway, in the Proceedings of the 

 National Museum.* Mr. Ridgway takes as a starting-point Dr. Coues's 

 "Check List," published in 1873, and formally notices many of the 

 changes from the nomenclature there adopted that have been since intro- 

 duced, and to some extent adopted, and proposes many additional ones, 

 the whole number here receiving attention amounting to upward of eighty. 

 Many of these have been duly noted from time to time in the Bulletin, 

 and some have even crept into current use, but Mr. Ridgway has done 

 good service in collecting these and bringing them into association with 

 those newly jjroposed. The sj^ace here available for the purpose is far too 

 limited to admit of a detailed notice of even all those that are new, but the 

 leading points may be briefly summarized as follows : — Specific names 

 changed (taking Coues's " Check List " as the basis), 30 ; f varieties 

 raised to specific rank, 15 ; synonyms raised to varietal rank, 2 ; species 

 reduced to varieties, 3 ; varietal names changed, 4 ; generic names 

 changed, 24 ; new genera proposed, 2 ; new varieties described, 3. As 

 already intimated, many of these changes are not new, some of them hav- 

 ing been made in 1874, in Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway's " History of 

 North American Birds," while others were there suggested as likely to 

 prove necessary. Not a few have been recently introduced by European 

 ornithologists. The more important innovations are the following. The 

 Turdus annalaxchkce of Gmelin is considered as equal to Turdus nanus, 

 Baird, and, antedating pallasi of Cabanis, becomes the specific name of 

 the Hermit Thrushes collectively, giving to the Eastern form the name 

 Turdus aonalaschkce pallasi, and to the Rocky Mountain form that of T. a. 

 auduhoni. The name fasciata for the Song Sparrows again receives in- 

 dorsement. Unalaschcensis is adopted for the varietal name of whtit has 

 been recently called Passerella iliaca lownsendi. Montana of Forster, ante- 

 dating monticola of Gmelin, is adopted for the Tree Sparrow, which there- 

 fore becomes Spizella montana. The generic name Euspiza gives place to 

 Spiza, of which latter Mr. Ridgway shows it to be a synonym. The 



* Revisions of Nomenclature of certain Xortli Anierieau Birds. By Robert 

 Ridgway. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, pp. 1 - 16. Published ]\larch 27, 1880. 

 t These numbers are given as ajtproximate rather than as exact. 

 VOL. V. 12 



