28 Bartramian Names in Ornithology. (January, 
agrestis (Bartr.) Coues = S. pusilla auct. First described by 
Wilson under the specific name pusilla, unless it be Gmelin’s Mo- 
tacilla yuncorum, as some have supposed possible. Several of our 
sparrows would better bear the epithet “ little field sparrow ” than 
this; as, for example, Povecetes gramineus and Coturniculus 
passerinus, and also Passerculus savanna, unless the latter should 
be considered too northern for the asterisk in Bartram’s list. 
Spizella pusilla, though now known as “ field sparrow,” is only 
found in fields bordered with thickets or partly overgrown with 
bushes. 
17. “ MOTACILLA DOMESTICA (regulus rufus), the house 
wren ” = Troglodytes domestica (Bartr.) Coues = T. aédon 
auct. Without the English name “house wren,” “ Motacilla 
domestica” would be wholly undeterminable. 
18. “ MOTACILLA PALUSTRIS (reg. minor) the marsh wren” 
= Cistothorus palustris (Bartr.) Bd. First described as palus- 
tris by Wilson, to whom, as Dr. Coues says, this Bartramian name 
has usually been attributed; but why is not Bartram’s palustris 
as likely to be Cistothorus stellaris as anything else ? 
19. © ARDEA MUGITANS, the marsh bittern, or Indian hen ” 
= Botaurus mugitans (Bartr.) Coues = Botaurus lentiginosus 
auct. Can the above names be allowed as a basis for priority, 
“the marsh bittern ” being the only really descriptive part ? 
20. ‘“« TANTALUS PICTUS (Ephouskyka Indian), the erying 
bird, beautifully speckled ” = Aramus pictus (Bartr.) Coues = 
A. giganteus auct. Elsewhere fully described. 
21. “ COLYMBUS FLORIDANUS, the great black cormorant of 
Florida, having a red beak’*= Graculus Floridanus (Bartr.). 
First described by Audubon under the same specific name, proba- 
bly merely by a coincidence. The “red beak” Dr, Coues ex- 
plains as a lapse of memory for “ red gular pouch and lores.” 
From the foregoing it will be seen how very slight are the 
claims Bartram’s names have to priority over those in current 
use. Of the twenty-one given above, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 7, 11 (the 
generic name only), 12 (occidentalis, not Americana), and 20, — 
six or seven in all, — are the only ones that, in justice to all 
parties, can rightfully stand. One (No. 10) has been shown to . 
be almost unquestionably Linnæan, not Bartramian. 
In conclusion, I would suggest to the author of the article under 
review, who seems so zealous in the vindication of a truly saga- 
cious naturalist, the propriety of also claiming for him priority in 
the discovery of the geographical law of variation in size in North 
