The Zoologist — August, 1871. ^727 



Gray Redstart. — The resuscitation of this species must have doubtless 

 taken more ornithologists than myself by surprise, and I have waited to see 

 some field naturalist reply to Dr. Bree's observations iu the ' Field ' for the 

 loth of April. Now, however, that I see such a good practical ornithologist 

 as Mr. Blake-Kuox coinciding with the views there expressed, it seems 

 time to lay the ghost of the gray redstart before it gets permanently looked 

 upon as a " British bird." It has been known for a long time to most 

 English ornithologists that the so-called Ruticilla Cairii is really nothing 

 but a stage of plumage of R. tithys, and its case is given up as hopeless by 

 its original describer. Having applied to my friend Mr. Howard Saunders, 

 whom I knew to have had great opportunities of observing both " species " 

 in life, he readily responded lo my request for definite information on the 

 subject by sending me the following note : — " I have it on the high 

 authority of M. Jules Verreaux that both TAbbe Caire and M. Gerbe have 

 become convinced that the so-called Ruticilla Cairii was nothing but the 

 first year's plumage of the ordinary R. tithys, some individuals of which do 

 not assume their full plumage the first spring, but nevertheless breed in 

 their gray dress. As a corroboration of this, I may mention that I have 

 myself found the so-called Ruticilla Cairii breeding in Spain, in a hole 

 which the next year was tenanted by a pair of R. tithys, doubtless the 

 identical birds of the previous year. The distinction with regard to the 

 habitats of the two birds does not hold good for a moment ; for R. tithys 

 not only frequents rocks and ruins, but houses in the most busthng cities — 

 as, for instance, Malaga for one, where I saw a jDair of R. tithys breeding 

 in a hole in one of the main streets. The supposed habits of R. Cairii are 

 equally inapplicable to my gray birds, which were nesting in a hole in a 

 very warm locality, in a reft of a rock, close to where T took the nest of 

 Bonelli's eagle in two consecutive years. I may add that Jules Verreaux 

 laughed to scorn the idea of these two ' species ' of Ruticilla being clearly 

 characterized." Thus, it seems that, if Dr. Bree will still hold to the 

 specific distinctness of R. Cairii, we shall have to quote the species as 

 R. Cairii, Gerbe 1848, et Bree 1871 [nee Gerbe 1871 !). Dr. Bree will 

 scarcely feel sui-prised if the ornithologists of the present day prefer to 

 follow the rules of the British Association to taking his advice as to what 

 the proper name of a species ought to be. I am writing with reference to 

 a remark in the ' Field ' of last Saturday, where he criticises the name given 

 by Mr. Harting to the reed warbler. There is one simple answer to the 

 question : Gmelin's name of " arundinacea " for the reed warbler having 

 been pre-occupied by Linnaeus, who gave the same title for the great sedge 

 warbler, Vieillot's name of " strepera," being next in order of priority, 

 stands. What one author or another chooses to think the best name for a 

 species, according to his own ideas, is not to be taken into consideration 

 when seeking to find the Jirst puhlished name of an animal. Whatever 



