acca General Notes. 211 
Am., I, 1831, p. 392, ‘‘ Zo¢tanus ochropus, the White-tailed Tatler” being 
formally described as such from a specimen from Hudson Bay in the 
British Museum. This specimen is extant, identified by Dr. Sharpe as 
Flelodromas ochropus, and so catalogued from Hudson Bay (Cat. B. Brit. 
Mus., XXIV, 1896, p. 444), along with the Halifax one. For aught that 
appears to the contrary, we must recognize this record, and add “ Hudson 
Bay” to Nova Scotia in our statement of the bird’s North American 
occurrences. 
While on this species, I may remark upon the claims of Helodromas 
to full generic rank apart from ZYotanus. Iam not inclined to waste any 
time in discussing the difference between a genus and a subgenus, because 
I know there is none. Yet we have a sort of recognized convention or 
implication in the matter, chiefly for the purpose of being as consistent as 
we can regarding some degrees of difference which we rate as generic, and 
some lesser degrees we only allow to be subgeneric — just as we have in 
the cases of species and subspecies. Helodromas, I think, is quite up to the 
mark of an average genus —take them as they run in our List; and Dr. 
Sharpe thinks so too. Aside from some obvious proportions of external 
parts by which Helodromas differs from the type of Zotanus, I may call 
attention to what may pass for “new evidence” in favor of generic distinc- 
tion — not that it is new, except to our Committee in their official capacity. 
This is, that Helodromas ditters from all its immediate allies in having 
the sternum single-notched — not a great matter, to be sure, in the order 
Limicole, where this bone is single-notched, or double-notched, or 
notched and fenestrate, but a useful character for generic distinction, like 
the presence or absence of a hallux, semipalmation or complete cleavage 
of the toes, etc. We may also recall in this connection the arboreal nidi- 
fication of the Green Sandpiper — if nidification can be said of a bird that 
uses other birds’ nests in which to deposit its eggs. On the whole, 
thinking we may safely and desirably treat Helodromas as a full genus, 
I propose this change in its status in our Check-List. — ELLIoTT CoUuEs, 
Washington, D. C. 
Status of the Redshank as a North American Bird.— There is a third 
record in the Fn. Bor.-Am., II, 1831, p. 391, which seems to require atten- 
tion. This is that of the bird duly entered as Totanus calidris, “the Red- 
shank or Gambet,’ and described from a specimen said to be from 
Hudson Bay, and at that time in the British Museum. Ido not find it 
enumerated by Dr. Sharpe, nor does he cite this reference to TYotanus 
calédris in his synonymy of the species. This leaves a cloud on the title 
of the Redshank to be considered North American; but the case is identi- 
cal with those of the Greater Snipe and Green Sandpiper above discussed, 
in so far as the face of the original record is concerned. I think we 
should hardly ignore this, even though the specimen is not forth coming 
to speak for itself. We hardly find the joint authors of the Fn. Bor.-Am. 
at fault on a point like this, and they are little likely to have been mistaken 
