Vol. XIV 
1897 General Notes. 215 
has only 10, and in Cadlipefla proper, which has 14. Lophortyx has 12, 
like all the rest of the genera, excepting the two just named, and in my 
judgment should never have been united with Callipepla by the A. O. U. 
I propose that we restore it to full generic rank, on the ground of the 
difference from Cadlifepfla in the number of rectrices, together with the 
remarkable peculiarity of the crest, and also the decided difference in the 
plumage of opposite sexes, as compared with the great similarity between 
the sexes of Callipepla. Lophortyx seems to me to be, in fact, one of the 
best characterized genera of Odontophorine; and Cal/ifepla is unique in 
this subfamily in the number of its rectrices. — ELL1IoTT CovuEs, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 
Notes on the Mexican Ground Dove. — Desiring to do what I can 
to free the A. O. U. Check-List of even the slightest blemishes, I may 
correct two errors which appear under Columbigallina passerina pall- 
escens, No. 320a, where ‘‘ C 374, part” and ‘‘ C 547, part” appears. The 
facts are otherwise. I believe I am the only author who has persisted in 
recognizing this subspecies ever since it was described by Baird in 1859; 
it is ignored in the A. O. U. List of 1886, and first given a place in the 
List of 1895. But it has stood unchallenged in the ‘ Key’ since 1872; it is 
“C 374a” of my first Check-List, 1873, and“ C 548” of my second Check- 
List, 1882, with the same separate number in all the eds. of the ‘Key’ 
since 1884. 
No doubt many ornithologists share my regret, that Cham@epelia must 
give way, under our rules, to such a monstrous name as Columbigallina ; 
but the peculiar atrocity of Columbigallina may not yet have dawned upon 
all of them. It is traceable back to the ‘“ Colombi-Galline” of the 
mendacious Levaillent, Oiseaux d’Afrique, VI, 1808, p. 98, pl. 278, the same 
being a fictitious bird of Africa, made up of the skin of a tame pigeon 
with artificial wattles: see Sund., K6n. Svensk. Vet.-Ak. Handl., 1857, p. 
55, and. Tent., 1873, p. 98; also, Salvad., Cat. B. Brit. Mus., XXI, 1893, p. 
647. This miserable artefact became promptly the Columba carunculata 
of M. Temminck and Mme. Knip, and in due term spawned three bastard 
genera: Verrulia Fleming, 1822; Creogenys Gloger, 1842; and Alectryo- 
pelta Van der Hoeven, 1855. Such is the pity that our innocent little 
Ground-doves should expiate the original sin by bearing the stigma of 
such a name; and more’s the pity that it is saddled on the patient ass of 
ornithological nomenclature. — ELLiotTT Cours, Washington, D. C. 
= 
Another Golden Eagle in Connecticut. — An adult male Golden Eagle 
(Aquila ckrysaétos), weighing eight pounds and a half, alar extent seven 
feet five inches, now in my possession, was taken Jan. 19, at Salem, twelve 
miles west of this place towards the Connecticut River. It was trapped 
while feeding on the carcasses of sheep killed by dogs. Its tracks were 
seen the day before, and foot-prints similar to these were seen last winter 
