68 BTILLETIN 86, XJISITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Museum, taken by C. M. Barber, in the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, 

 at 8,000 feet altitude, on June 14, 1899 ; and from San Luis Spring 

 in the San Luis Mountains in southwestern New Mexico, taken on 

 July 3, 1892, by Dr. E. A. Mearns. 



In the original description of Ghordeiles virginianus henryi,^ 

 Mr. Cassin mentions specimens of this form that Dr. T. C. Henry 

 obtained at Fort Webster, and that Lieut. Gunnison's exploring 

 party collected in New Mexico. As we have already shown,^ Prof, 

 S. F. Baird considered as the type the specimen which Kreutzfeldt, 

 who was naturalist to Lieutenant Gunnison's party under Lieutenant 

 Beckwith, collected in the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado, 

 this being then a part of New Mexico. This supposed type is a 

 Juvenal female, whereas the bird actually described by Cassin is an 

 adult male, the description of which agrees very satisfactorily in 

 both color and size with the specimen now considered as the type in 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. The bird now in 

 question is marked on the present red type label, the original label 

 having apparently been lost, as follows : " 24179 — Type of Chordeiles 

 Henryi Cass. Bds. Col. & Tex., p. 233 " ; and on the reverse side, " Eio 

 Grande Lat 32° Dr T C Henry." 



Witmer Stone, in his account of the type specimens of birds in the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,' gives the type- 

 locality of Ghordeiles virginianus henryi as " Eio Grande, Lat. 32°," 

 evidently copying the data from the label of the above specimen 

 marked as type. 



Cassin, in his original description of Ghordeiles virginianus henryi^ 

 evidently intended to base the name on the specimen obtained by Dr. 

 T. C. Henry, for it is the one he fully describes and of which he 

 gives measurements; furthermore, mentions the female (i. e., the 

 specimen collected in southern Colorado by Mr. Kreutzfeldt, of Lieu- 

 tenant Gunnison's party) only incidentally and briefly; and speaks 

 as follows of the origin of his material : ^ " Specimens of this interest- 

 ing species have been procured at Fort Webster, New Mexico, by Dr. 

 Henry and by the unfortunate party under command of the late Lieu- 

 tenant Gunnison." Finally he named the new bird in honor of Dr. 

 T. C. Henry. Thus it appears that Henry's specimen, now regarded 

 as the type in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is 

 from Fort Webster, or it is from the Rio Grande at latitude 32°, 

 or it is not the type. The first is undoubtedly the true status of this 

 case ; for many of the labels used by Henry had printed on them the 

 locality " Eio Grande Latitude 32°," and he doubtless tied one of 

 these to the specimen, and neglected to change the locality. Further- 

 more, Cassin had ample opportunity to learn from Henry the true 



1 must. Birds Cal., Texas., Ore., Brit, and Euss. Amer., vol. 1, 1855, p. 239. 



2 Pages 62-63. 



» Proc. Acad. Nat. Scl. PMla., 1899, p. 30. 



