1^8 SteJneger 0)1 the Genus Acanthis. [April 



exclusion of the Greenland bird is concerned, at least. The next 

 name for the latter is given by HolboU in 1S43, and is A. home- 

 ma nnii. 



The first author to disting-uish the different forms c>{ A. linaria 

 was C. L. Brehm. His descriptions are, however, very unsatis- 

 factory, and have caused considerable confusion. It has been 

 generally agreed upon to call the long- and slender-billed form of 

 linaria by Brehm's name holboellii^ as that is the appellation ap- 

 plied by him to the foi'm with the longest bill. It was afterwards 

 named by Brehm himself longirostj'is; Sundevall used the names 

 alnor7iin and magnirosti'is^ and its summer plumage has recently 

 been redescribed by E. v. Homeyer as brtinnescens. It is a rather 

 poorly differentiated form, as the intergradation into linaria vera 

 is complete, and the intermediate links rather numerous. But, 

 nevertheless, the two races exist, and we shall have to recognize 

 them. The chief distinction is the lengthened and pointed bill, 

 and the somewhat larger size, although the tail is about the 

 same length. Like the true linaria^ it occurs both in Europe 

 and North America, and I have also met with it in Eastern Asia. 

 It has been suggested that the American forms might be separable 

 as races from the European birds on account of heavier streaking on 

 the lower parts of the body. But I have not been able to verif}^ 

 it as a general rule, while it is certain that I have before me 

 specimens from Scandinavia and America which are perfect 

 counterparts of each other. In size I could detect no difference. 

 For comparison I have had a large series of American birds, in- 

 cluding the types of Coues's yz^i-ce^c^w^ from Labrador,* and a 

 similar series of European and Asiatic specimens; among the 

 European, examples from the late Professor Sundevall with the 

 names L. magnirostris and L. ordinaria^ parvirostris, or 

 bettdarttm, in his own handwriting on the labels. 



I may here add a few notes upon a small series of Redpolls 

 from the Island of Kodiak, Alaska. They are perhaps a trifle 

 smaller than holboellii^ but the length of the bill is by no means 

 inferior. As they are in the worn summer plumage little can be 

 said with certainty about the actual length of vsdng and tail- 

 feathers. Of the five specimens at hand, one adult male is espec- 

 ially remarkable for the deep color of the dark parts and the bril- 



* Not from Alaska, as O. Finsch states (Zweite Deutsche Nordpolarfahrt, II, p. 190) . 



