[18S4. Stkjneger, Analccta Ornithologica. 359 



any direct record of its occurrence there, or any data upon which 

 to base such a conchision. Von Schrenck even, when conjecturing 

 what birds may possibly occur in that sea, omits it. Pallas did 

 not know it, nor did Steller, Merck, or any of the older travellers 

 meet with it. Middendorf collected on the shores of the Okhotsk 

 Sea, as did likewise v. Schrenck, but without finding it. Dybowski 

 also visited these parts of that distant region, and Taczanowski 

 did not even include it in his Critical Reviews of the 'Ornitholog- 

 ical Fauna of Eastern Siberia.' Nor has it been obtained by any 

 of the ardent ornithologists who have been residing in Japan of 

 late, and v^ho also have had collectors in the Kurile Islands. 

 That most successful collector, Wossnessenski, spent a long time 

 on the latter islands, but it is not known that he collected this 

 species there. I even doubt whether there is any authentic rec- 

 ord of its ever having been obtained on the eastern coast of the 

 mainland of Kamtschatka, the only places, in the Old World, 

 where, to my knowledge, this species occurs being Bering and 

 Copper Islands. 



Such conjectures as to distribution are always dangerous. The 

 next step is, that an uncritical author takes up Nelson's state- 

 ment as an undoubted fact, the assertion goes into other works, 

 and future writers will have the greatest diflSculty in tracing it 

 back to its original source. There is no need of extending the 

 geographical range of a species before actual facts are at hand. 



I should also like to make a few remarks on the bird which Mr. 

 Nelson gives as Larus affinis Reinh. This is a species the his- 

 tory and distribution of which are still involved in great uncer- 

 tainty. The National Museum has no specimen, and I doubt 

 whether any American museum is the fortunate owner of a gen- 

 uine ajffinis. The identification of this species requires compari- 

 son of specimens, or access to a rather scattered literature. It would 

 seem that Mr. Nelson did not procure any specimen of this veiy 

 difiicult species ; nevertheless it is identified without hesitation. 

 If the species was only determined on seeing the flying bird, the 

 statement of the occurrence of affinis as common in Plover Bay is 

 simply valueless. If birds were killed, but not preserved, and 

 notes taken, including measurements and colors of the naked 

 parts, especially the feet, and a very accurate determination of the 

 shade of the mantle, then the birds may be determinable, but 

 until these be published, I am unable to say to which species 

 Nelson's affinis should be referred. 



