Vol. xlii.] 6G 



Islands, Central Peru, which belonged to the Falkland 

 Island form (C. aura falklandica of Sharpe), thus greatly 

 extending its known range on the west coast. 



At Philadelphia, where the A.O.U. had a most successful 

 meeting and made me very welcome, I was able to examine 

 the Cassin types and other interesting skins of the Accipitres 

 in the museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences, but 

 here many skins had been made up from old mounted 

 examples, and in many cases lacked precise data. 



From there I went north to Boston and Cambridge, where 

 I was made most welcome by Dr. Townsend and various 

 other good friends of the Niittall Club, and also by Mr. 

 Outram Bangs and Mr. Peters of the Museum of Comp. 

 Zoology, Mr. Bangs especial!}' giving me the utnjost free- 

 dom and assistance in my work there. I also spent an 

 interesting week-end with Dr. Townsend on the sand-dunes 

 up the coast, and visited, among other places, a Night- 

 Heronry of some 800 nests. 



The collection at Cambridge is very representative, being 

 rich in American birds, while it also contains much good 

 African and other Old World material. The West Indian 

 collection is especially good. 



I worked out here, with the aid of the fine series of 

 Gryrfalcons, the North American forms of these troublesome 

 birds, and came to the conclusion that there was only 

 one form from Greenland, Labrador, and Eastern Arctic 

 America, viz., Falco rusticohis candicans — the black Labra- 

 dor birds known as obsoletus being merely a melanistic 

 phase of candicans occurring along with white birds. The 

 Alaskan birds, however, I had to leave nntil I exomined the- 

 series at Washington. The new birds I found here included 

 a new form of Merlin from the Pacific coast, California 

 to Eastern British Columbia, first pointed out to me by 

 Mr. Bangs, which I propose to call 



Falco columbarius bendirei, subsp. nov. 



Smaller than F. c. richardsoni (wing, ^J 186-200, ? 

 202-218) ; (J darker slate above than in F. c. ricliardsoni, 

 but lighter than in F. c. columbarius ; tail black with three 



