28 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 6-No. 4. 



ORNITHOLOGIST anil OOLOGIST. 



A. MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTKD TO THE STUDY 

 OF BIKUS, THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



JOS. M. WADE, 

 S. L. WILLABD, 



Editor 



Asis't Editor 



With tlie fo-operation of able Ornithological 

 Writers and Collectors. 



Subscription. — $i.oo per annum. Foreign 

 subscription Si 25 including postage. Specimen 

 copies 10 cents each. 



JOS. M. WADE, 



Norwich, Conn. 



Entered at the Norwich P. O, as second-class matter. 



EDITORIAL. 



Nomenclature of North American 

 Birds. 



Since the well known "Catalogue of 

 North American Birds," by Prof. B.drd 

 was issued in 1859, no short ornithologi- 

 cal work has appeared of so much impor- 

 tance as Ridgway's "Nomenclature of 

 North American Birds," which has recently 

 been received. 



This new list contains 226 valid species 

 and recognized races which have either 

 been first described or added to the North 

 American fauna since the year 1859, while 

 no less than 62 names of the old catalogue 

 have been reduced to the ranks of synony- 

 my or removed as extralimital. Over 300 

 of the remaining 698 names have been 

 more or less changed, so that only 395 of 

 the 760 names, as given in the old Cata- 

 logue, are retained by Mr. Ridgway. Im- 

 portant changes appear in the nomencla- 

 ture of many of the groups, but our limit- 

 ed space will not admit of any quotations 

 illustrative of the changes of the generic 

 and specific names. The appendix con- 

 tains a condensed analysis of the changes 

 which have taken place in North American 

 Ornithology since 1859, and is a valuable 

 feature of the paper. 



Oologists whose eggs are marked ac- 

 cording to the "Smithsonian List" will be 

 interested in the "Concordance" at the end 

 of the work, as the numbers ot the old 

 Catalogue as well as those of the new are 



here given in conjunction. Mr. Ridgway 

 has given a great amount of information 

 in the 94 pages of the pamphlet, and the 

 laborious task undertaken and so thor- 

 oughly finished by him, will add new laurels 

 to his already well known fame as one of 

 the first of American Ornithologists. 



Removal. 

 Since our last number was sent out we 

 have changed our place of business from 

 Rockville, Conn., to Versailles, Conn., but 

 our journal in the future will be issued 

 from Norwich, Conn., where we shall re- 

 side, and which will be our post-office ad- 

 dress. This will explain to our corres- 

 pondents why some of them have been neg- 

 lected during the past two or three weeks. 

 Our thanks are due to our contributors 

 for very copious notes of the arrival of our 

 feathered friends in various parts of the 

 country which will have to be worked into 

 shape when we have more time than at 

 present. 



Our Magazine. 

 We have received many congratulations 

 on the appearance of the first three num- 

 bers of our magazine, which are the more 

 gratifying as they come from onr scientific 

 men in different parts of the United States 

 and Europe. It is a great satisfaction to 

 us but we need a subscription list that will 

 at least pay running expenses. Our time 

 and labor will be cheerfully given, but if 

 each one would try and induce a brother 

 naturalist to subscribe it would be a great 

 help to the magcizine and would place iL on 

 a permanent footing. We get but little 

 revenue from our advertising columns, 

 therefore it is to the interest of our read 

 ers to lend a helping hand. 



White, Bluebird's Eggs. — A few days 

 ago, on reaching liome, we were very 

 agreeably surprised to find laid on our ta- 

 ble (not by the Bluebirds, but by a Nor- 

 wich friend), a set of four pure white Blue- 

 bird's eggs, perfectly fresh, and with the 

 pink hue so characteristic of the Wood- 

 pecker's eggs. The birds were of the us- 

 ual plumage. 



