"2 24 RiDGVVAY, A^ew species of Aiiiertcati Birds. Loct 



Analyse, 1816, p. 30, is " Le Ministre' of Buff on," etc. This 

 conclusion has unfortunately been adopted by the A. O. U. Com- 

 mittee, in whose Check-List the type of Passerhia Vieillot, is said 

 to be "by elimination," Tanagra cyanea Linn. That this view of 

 the case is quite wrong, however, I think may easily be shown. 

 After the diagnosis of his genus Fasserina in the ' Analyse,' 

 Vieillot mentions three species, in the following order : " Ministre 

 [= Tanagra cyanea Linn.]. — Ortolan de riz [_-=zFringina oryzi- 

 vora Linn.]. — de neige. Buff." {= Emberiza nivalis Linn.]. 

 The first of these to be made the type of a new genus was Frin- 

 gilla oryzivora (^Dolichonyx Swains., 1827); the next, Tanagra 

 cyanea {Cyanospiza Baird, 1858), Fmberiza nivalis not having 

 been made the type of a new genus until 1882, when Dr. Stejneger 

 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. V, p. 33), after demonstrating that the 

 type of Flectrophanes Meyer, 18 15, is Fringilla lapponica Linn, and 

 not Fmberiza nivalis, proposes for the latter the generic name 

 Plectroph enax . 



The type of Fasserina Vieill., therefore, is, " by elimination," 

 Fmberiza nivalis and not lanagra cyanea. If this view of the 

 case is correct, we shall have to restore the unusually appropriate 

 name Cyanospiza for the Indigo Bird and its congeners, and use 

 Fasserina for the Snowflakes, the recognized forms of the two 

 genera being as follows : 



CYANOSPIZA Baird. 



1. Cyanospiza cyanea [Linn.) Baird. 



2. Cyanospiza amcena {Say) Baird. 



3. Cyanospiza ciris (Linn.) Baird. 



4. Cyanospiza leclancheri (Lafr.) Duges. 



5. Cyanospiza versicolor (Bonap.) Baird. 



6. Cyanospiza versicolor pulchra {Ridg-iv.) Ridgw. 



7. Cyanospiza rositae La-ivr. 



FASSERINA Vieillot. 



1. Passerina nivalis (Z,«'««.) Vieill.^ 



2. Passerina nivalis townsendi (Ridozv.) Ridgzv. 



3. Passerina hyperborea {Ridgzv.) Ridgzv. 



' Faune Francj. '1S20, 86. 



