General Notes. 12^ 



or cores are internally connected with the superficial fascia of the toes and 

 seem to straddle the flexor tendons running below. 



On noting the structural difl"erence, the cause or function of these 

 papillae at once becomes a point of interest. Why have these two pads 

 been modified into long papillae (.12 inch in a dried specimen), and provi- 

 ded with a solid core.? Now the foot o{ Accipiter is so constructed that 

 the first toe opposes the second toe, and their claws move in nearly par- 

 allel arcs. This is not the case with the third and fourth toes, which are 

 longer and not opposable to one another. Thus the claws can be op- 

 posed to nothing except the middle portions of the toes to which they 

 belong. But when the claw is thus flexed a small space well adapted for 

 grasping twigs and feathers is formed by the papillae, the penultimate 

 phalanx and the claw, the point projecting beyond resembling the feet of 

 certain Crustacea and lice. Hence the function of the papillae would 

 seem to be to aid the third and fourth claws in grasping small objects, and 

 it is an interesting point to notice that the foot of Accipitei' fuscus is 

 thus drawn in North American Birds, by Baird, Brewer and Ridgway. 



How far the same considerations hold in other species I cannot say, but 

 as mentioned above, allied forms seem to possess the character to a less 

 degree. — J. Amory Jeffries, Bostofi, Mass. 



Supplementary Notes on two Texas Birds. — In a recent paper* 

 on a collection of birds made in southwestern Texas, I referred a series of 

 HylocicJila uttalascce to the restricted form, with the remark that several 

 specimens closely approached var. audiibom. Upon reading the article, 

 an esteemed correspondent wrote me that one of these aberrant examples, 

 which had passed into his hands, appeared to him to be true audiiboni. 

 In this opinion, after a reexamination of the specimen, I concur. The 

 bird in question has a wing of 3. 82 inches, which, though decidedly under 

 the average oi auduboni, is more than should be allowed tinalasccB proper.\ 

 Here, then, is another species, besides those previously cited, which is 

 represented by two distinct varieties in the tract of country explored. 



The single specimen of Cofunit'culus passerinus taken in the same lo- 

 cality represents the western variety pcr/>aUidus, under which, by an over- 

 sight, it was not included. ^ — Nathan Clifford Brown, Portland, Me. 



* This Bulletin, Vol. VII, p. 33. 



t For an excellent review of the races of H. t/nalascce, by Mr. H. W. Henshavv, see 

 this Bulletin, Vol. IV, p. 134. Several errors, perhaps typographical, are apparent in 

 the tables of measurements given in this paper. For example, the bill of var. pallasi 

 is said to average .53 inch, whereas the largest specimen of that form is afterwards 

 credited with a bill of only .51. Again, var. nanus [i. e., unalasccB) does not appear from 

 the table of extreme measurements to have been found with a smaller bill than .49, though 

 it had previously been said to average .48. The difference in length of bill exhibited 

 by the three races of this species is almost microscopic. A much more tangible 

 character, not mentioned by Mr. Henshaw, lies in the disproportionate slenderness of 

 the bill of the western varieties. In a rather large (wing 3.67) example of unalascce 

 before me, the bill measured across the base of the culmen is but .20 wide, while in a 

 specimen of var. pallasi of the same size it is .25 wide. 



