94 General Notes. PEG 
Note on Junco annectens Baird and J. ridgwayi Mearns.— Although 
Professor Baird based his Juco annectens (Ornithology of California, I, 
1870, p. 564) on several specimens representing the bird which we have 
been accustomed to call by that name and one example typical of J. r¢édg- 
wayt Mearns (Auk, VII, July, 1890, p. 243), reference to these specimens 
and careful comparison with Prof. Baird’s description show clearly that 
the rufous-backed specimen is the type of J. aznectens. Junco ridgwayt 
Mearns, therefore, becomes a synonym of Jf. aznectens Baird, and the other 
form (J. aznectens, Auct. nec Baird) being without a name I take pleasure 
in bestowing upon it the nameJuzco mearnsz, in compliment to my friend, 
Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, U.S. A. 
Junco mearnsi is similar to J. annectens, but may easily be distinguished 
by having the back hair brown, not conspicuously different in color from 
the gray of hind neck and rump, instead of being bright rusty or rufous, 
as in jf. cantceps. 
The type of J. mearnsz is No. 11164, U.S. Nat. Mus., & ad., Fort Bridger, 
Wyoming, April 12, 1858; C. Drexler. The type of J. annectens is No. 
10701, U. S. Nat. Mus., Q ad., Fort Bridger, May 28, 1858; C. Drexler.— 
Rosert RipGway, Washington, D. C. 
Rectifications of Synonymy in the Genus Junco.— The ,/uuco hyemalis 
danbyi which I described in the Nidiologist, III, No. 2, Oct. 1895, p. 14, 
as a provisional new subspecies from the Black Hills, and named for 
Prof. Durward E. Danby, principal of the high school of Custer, 5S. D., 
proves to be simply the young of J. azkenz, the characteristic representa- 
tive of the genus in the said region. The type specimen, lacking the 
white wing-bars of the adult, has lately been deposited in the U. S. 
National Museum. The naming of the supposed new form will prove to 
have been not entirely in vain if it serves to emphasize the fact that 
J. aikeni is so thoroughly distinct from j. yemadzs that it can be recog- 
nized at any age, apart from the presence of its supposed chief distinctive 
characters— the white wing-bars. These are wanting at first, in birds of 
the year, and first appear as two rows of white dots on the ends of the 
median and greater coverts, respectively; these dots enlarge to spots by 
degrees, and finally coalesce as complete bars. The bird could not be 
mistaken for hyemalis at any age; the ‘aspect’ in life, even at gunshot 
range, is distinctive; for one receives the impression of a large gray bird, 
more like caziceps than. like hyemalzs. 
J. h. connectens of my ‘Key’, 2d-4th eds., 1884-90, p. 378, is a good sub- 
species which has been accidently overlooked by the A. O. U. Committee 
on Classification and Nomenclature in preparing both the editions of our 
Check-List, 1886 and 1895. In fact it also escaped my own memory, until 
it was brought to mind by the description of J. 4. shufeldti by Mr. Coale, 
in The Auk, IV, Oct. 1887, p. 330; since which time I have been intending 
to bring up the case for final readjustment, but have meanwhile been 
much preoccupied with other than ornithological affairs. Mr. Coale’s 
