ZOOLOGY. 301 
importance. A great difference in the colors of the Eastern bird 
been frequently met with, and we have several specimens in 
our collection, answering very well to the account given of your 
bi Ad 
r. Coues, writing to the editors of THe Era, says: ‘Thé 
Wises I take in ornithology is my excuse for begging enough of 
your valuable space to correct an unfortunate error that appears 
in your issue of December 8th. say unfortunate, because the 
_ Was unlucky bias to shoot, and Mr. Jay cox “still more to write 
about, shows nothing of specific consequence. The ppm g 
rectrices of Bonasa umbellus varie s from sixteen to 
u 
differ more than they appear to in this instance, while the discrep- 
ancies in color that are airs by the writer are strictly within’ 
the range of captors variat 
Thus we see Profes r Baird and Dr. Coues agree that the bird 
described was a Sirie ii 
There was one very important sentence omitted in the pub- 
lished article in Tue Era. It is: ‘As TI have no ote of ruffed 
‘Birds of New i and fy apime ar of Wilso apres 
rica’ I found so many different species of birds differing from 
ve other in so slight a degree that it led me to suppose the 
ird was one that had not been described. 
Professor Baird’s letter he says: ‘I admit now yn one spe- 
of Bonasa in the United States.’ At the time of the 
a 4 pblication of his work he describes two— Bonasa umbellus 
he n i 
ie me he was writing ‘Birds of North America,’ he would have 
med another genus for it; at least it would seem so from the 
manner in which he has niade new spaces of specimens which 
