Notice of Audubon^ s Birds of America. 133 



must confess that, familiar as we have been with the iS. auium- 

 nalis, we never imagined that its claim to a distinct species ever 

 would be questioned. We have seen it repeatedly in August and 

 September on its way south, but never does the writer re- 

 member to have seen it in company with the Sylvia parus. It 

 may be the case, but we are not yet satisfied that it is so. 



The Sylvia rara is the young male of *S*. azurea. Both birds, 

 under both names, are to be found in Bonaparte and in Audubon's 

 Biography. 



The Sylvia Childrenii of Audubon's Biography, is the imma- 

 ture bird of the common summer yellowbird of authors. This 

 is an important correction, as writers have since been misled by 

 the error. It has been adopted by Nuttall, as well as by Rev. Mr. 

 Peabody, in his report on the birds of Massachusetts. As the 

 bird breeds, to the certain knowledge of the writer, in this imma- 

 ture plumage, it is impossible for beginners not to be perplexed 

 without the knowledge of this fact, namely, that the absence of 

 the reddish spots on the breast shows it to be a young bird, and 

 not a different species. 



The Sylvia pahnariiTn of Bonaparte, is the same bird with 

 the S. petechia of the same as well as of other authors. 



The Sylvia pusilla of Wilson, and the S. sphagnosa of Au- 

 dubon, Nuttall, and Bonaparte, are not new species, but identical 

 with Sylvia Canadensis of authors. They are young birds in 

 different states of plumage. 



The Sylvia tigrina. of Bonaparte is not the same with the bird 

 described under that name by Gmelin and Latham, but is iden- 

 tical with Sylvia inontana of authors. 



The bird described by Audubon as a new species, under the 

 name of Sylvia Roscoe, is the young of the common Maryland 

 yellow-throat. This too, is an important correction. 



These are some of the more important corrections of errors of 

 former works, to be found in the volume on our table. They 

 are all important, and possibly further investigation may add to 

 their number, and thus reduce yet more the number of species. 

 It will be remembered that this reduction is one of the most 

 difficult for naturalists to determine correctly. Writers are much 

 more prone to create new species than to cancel previous ones 

 and to study out their identity with others. The young stu- 

 dent, therefore, owes Mr. Audubon a debt of gratitude for much 

 labor and perplexity saved him by these investigations. 



