494 



NOTE ON MUSCICAPA OCHROLEUCA GM. 



Vireo (Lanlvireo) flavifrons, Sd. 185$.-Gundl. J. f. O. 18G1, 324 (Cuba). Allen, Pr.Esa. 



lost. iv. 1864, M.Ridgw. Ann. Lye. N. Y. x. 1374, 370 (Illinois). 

 Lanlvireo flavifrons, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N.T. ix. 18C8, 96 (Costa Rica). v. Frantz.J.f.O. 



1869, 295 (Costa Rica). Allen, Bull. MCZ. ii. 1871,279 (Florida, winter;. B. B. <& R. 



NAB. i. 1874, 379, pi. 17, f. 5. Brew. Pr. Boat, Soc. xvii. 1875, 440. Lawr. Bull. Nat. 



Mus. n. 4, 1876, 17 (Southwest- 

 ern Mexico). 

 Vlreosylvla flavifrons, Bd. Rev. AB. 



1866, 346, fig. Scl PZS. 1870, 



184 (Veragua). 

 Vireo flaviflorcs, Gregg, Pr. Elmira 



Acad. 1870. 



Hnscicapa sylvicola, Wils. AO. i. 

 1808, 117, pi. 7, f.3 (nee Bart.). 

 Bp. Journ. Phila. Acad. iv. 1824, 



tGolden'.'throat Flycatcher, P<m*. FlG " 55 - ^eo flavifrons, natural size. 



AZ. ii. 1785, 389, n.276! (descr. orig.New York). 

 ? Golden-throated Flycatcher, Lath. "Syn. Snpp. 17, 173, n. 80".Steph. Gen. Zool. x. 



1817, 376. 



Fauvette a gorge florae, V. EM. 1. c. 446. 

 Gobe-moiiche jaunatre de IS'ew- Yorck, V. EM. 1. c. 814. 

 Vireo a front jaune, Le Moine, Ois. Canad. 1861, 213. 

 Yellow-throated Vireo, Yellow-throated Greenlet, Authors. 



HAB. Eastern United States and British Provinces ; west only to Iowa 

 and Kansas. Breeds in most if not all of its North American range. Win- 

 ters in Florida and southward, Mexico, Central America, and British Colum- 

 bia. Cuba (rare). 



NOTE. It seems most likely that the proper name of this species is not 

 Vireo flavifrons V., as commonly supposed, but Vireo ochroleucus (Gm.). For, 

 as late critics of our nomenclature have generally failed to observe, Muscicapa 

 ochroleuca of Gmelin is based on the " Golden-throated Flycatcher n of Pen- 

 nant and Latham, which is described from " New York " in terms that can 

 hardly be misunderstood, and which is doubtless the present species. This 

 name ochroleuca^ now indeed obsolete, was current for many years, espe- 

 cially with Vieillot, who reproduces it in various of his books, making of it 

 now a " Muscicapa", now a " Sylvia"; Gray quotes it in 1848 under "Mni- 

 otilta ", and Stephens even goes so far as to quote " Muscicapa sylvicola Wils." 

 as its synonym I I think it as well established for the Yellow-throated Vireo 

 as either olivaceus or noveboracensis are for their respective species better, in 

 fact, than olivaceua L. is, for that is a compound of Edwards and Catesby, 

 and unquestionably includes two species (see Baird, Rev. p. 335). We have 

 all accepted noveboracensis Gm., as based on the "Green Flycatcher" of 

 Pennant and the " Hanging Flycatcher " of Latham, which are scarcely or 

 not more satisfactorily identifiable with the White-eyed Vireo than this 

 "Golden-throated Flycatcher" of the same authors is with V. flavifrona ; 

 and I am strongly disposed to recommend that the above name, Vireo ochro- 

 leucua, be adopted. 



