1S84.I Necen/ Liicidfinr. JQ 



Godwit, /mimosa iiropvgialh of Gould, or L. lafpoiiica iiovce-zedhiudice. 

 as Mr. Nelson ogives it; the Wandering Tattler, Heteroscelus ifiranus; the 

 Bristle-bellied Curlew, Niimon'us fai/iensis (iV. fetnorcilis Peale), com- 

 plete the list of Waders already known to reach our shores and included 

 by Mr. Nelson in the present connection. 



The other of the two methods, ahove alluded to. h\ wiiich the Asiatic 

 and the American fauna; come together is a curious one, if if can he fully 

 substantiated. Though, as it; well known, the Eastern North American 

 fauna reaches the Pacific in the latitudes of Alaska, yet there seem.stobe 

 in that region an approach of some American forms to the characters of 

 their Asiatic or European conspecies. Perhaps the case could be more 

 rigorously defined as the tendency to a single circumpolar type of con- 

 species which further south become better differentiated in any meridian : 

 and very likely some forms now quoted as peculiarly Alaskan, in so far as 

 North America is concerned, may prove characteristic rather of our whole 

 Arctic coast. The case seems to be best marked among Birds of Prey. 

 According to what we presume to be Mr. Ridgway's indentifications, Mr. 

 Nelson's article gives us. for example, as Alaskan, Uliila cinerea and 

 Ulula cinerea lappouica; Nyctale teiig-mahni a.nd]Vyctale ie7!g-7nalmi ri'c/e- 

 ardsont: Suruia fnnerea and Snri/ia funerea ulula; Hierofalco gyrfalco 

 candicaus and Hierofalco gyrfalco sacer: with two forms of Peregrines. 

 Falco peregri7ius ?i(f;vius, and F. percgrinus fealii. Waiving what might 

 be said against the distinctness of any or all of these related forms, and as- 

 suming subspecitic characters to be established, have we in such cases as 

 those of the three Owls the Old World forms actually reaching us from 

 Asia.'^ Or rather, have we not the American forms merging toward the 

 pole into the common stock or stem of the species .'^ 



Excepting the three Owls mentioned, all the Alaskan Birds of Prey are 

 noted bv Mr. Nelson under the recognized names of supposed American 

 forms, ^% Pandion haliactus '' carolinensis" :, Archibuteo lagopus sancti- 

 fokatitiis; Aqnila chrvsaetus •'caiiadefisis," etc. A Bubo Z'irgiuiaujis 

 " subarcticiis" is given among the Owls which occasionall^• \isit the coast 

 of Bering Sea. 



The case of the Ptarmigan, as presented by Mr. Nelson, can be under- 

 stood only bv reference to the erratum leaf. One is Lagopus albus. Two 

 others ( Nos. 78 and 79 ) are to be treated as one, both being headed 

 ••Lagopus rupestris, Rock Ptarmigan." Thirdly comes No. 80, a certain 

 '■Lagopus rupt'stris occideutalis, Turner, Alkhan Ptarmigan." This is 

 the same bird as that recently published by Mr. L. M. Turner (Proc. U. 

 S. Nat. Mus., 1883, p. — ), under the name of L.agopus mutus atkkensis, from 

 Atkha Island, and the name Lagopus rupestris occideutalis is corrected 

 among the errata. Mr. Turner's later determination is to call the new 

 Ptarmigan Lagopus mutus atkkensis. We may add, however, that we 

 have ourselves no faith whatever in the validity of the distinctions 

 sought to be established by Mr. Turner among the Ptarmigans of the 

 mutus or rupestris tvpe. and we base this view in the main upon 

 Mr. Turner's own statement of the case. He may be quite right, however. 



