1^2 Stejneger on Analecta OriiitJiologica. fApiil 



Cardinal Grosbeak — Cardinalis virginianus Bp : ''Loxia car- 

 dinalis 5. L. cristata rubra, capistro nigro, rostro peclibusque 

 sanguineis . . ; . Coccothraustes rubra. Catesb. car. I. p. 38. t. 

 38 ... . Habitat in America septentrionali . . . ." Bonaparte's 

 \\2LVi\& virginianus A-A.\.&% from 1838; Scopoli's rubra 'ixovix 1769. 

 As the case does not involve any doubt, and the synonymy is 

 clear, I shall only briefly enumerate the forms mentioned in 

 Baird, Brew^er, and Ridgway's 'History of North- American Birds' 

 (III, p. 99). Their names will stand as follows : 



1. Cardinalis ruber {^cov.^. 



RiDGW. Nomencl. n. 242. — Coues, Check list, 2 ed. n. 299. 



2. Cardinalis ruber igneics (Baird). 

 RiDGw. /. c. n. 242^.^ — Coues, /. c. n. 300. 



3. Cardinalis ruber coccineus (RiDGW.). 



4. Cardinalis ruber carneus (Less.). 



It will be seen that the gender of the genus-name is given as 

 masculine. Dr. Coues, in the second edition of the 'Check list' (p. 

 60), writes ' Cardinalis virginiana^^ and remarks: "As a Latin 

 word, Cardinalis is only an adjective ; used substantively, its 

 gender is either masculine or feminine. We take the latter, 

 because most words ending in is- are feminine." 



But, in the first place, as the name Cardinalis is "applied 

 with obvious signification to the chief officials of the Pope," its 

 gender ought to be masculine, as is that of these "red-wearing 

 dignitaries;" and in the second place, Cardinalis "Bp. 1838," is 

 undoubtedly masculine, as this author writes ' Cardinalis vir- 

 ginianus.'' In the special sense of genus-name for the Red 

 Grosbeaks it cei"tainly is masculine, and if it is the ride that "words 

 ending in is- are feminine," this word belongs most emphatically 

 to the exceptions. We are more satisfied as to the correctness of 

 this opinion, since Dr. Coues himself states that the gender of 

 cardinalis is 'either masculine or feminine.' 



V. More "Ornithophiloi.ogicai.ities." 



Without further comment I offer the following supplemental 

 notes about the derivation of some of the systematic names of 

 North American birds, which may perhaps be of value in relation 

 to the discussion at present being carried on. 



No. 595. Hcematopus ostrilegus. — Sundevall's emendation is ostreologus. 

 There is no need of emending Linnseus's name into ostrilegus^ as he so 

 wrote it himself in the 'Fauna Svecica,' 2nd ed., p. 69 ^1761). 



