Certhia familiaris americana, not Certhia f. fusca! — Dr. Coues has 

 recentlj sought (Auk, April, 1897, XIV, 216) to resurrect the name Cer- 

 thia fusca Barton (Fragments Nat. Hist. Penn., 1799, 11) and to establish 

 it as the proper designation for the common Brown Creeper of eastern 

 North America. His proposition unfortunately found favor with the 

 A.O.U. Committee, and in the Ninth Supplement to the Check-List (Auk, 

 Jan., 1899, XVI, 126) Barton's name supersedes the long-current a?neri- 

 cana. But Certhia fusca Barton, 1799, is preoccupied by Certhia fiisca 

 Gmelin, 1788 (Syst. Nat. I, 472) and therefore untenable. The next 

 available name is apparently Certhia americana Bonaparte (Geog. & 

 ■Comp. List, 183S, 11), so that the American Brown Creeper must be 

 called, as heretofore, Certhia familiaris americana . — Uari<.y C. Ober- 

 HOLSER, Washins-ton, D. C. Atlk, XVI, April, 1899, p. /Si^ 



