General Notes. 
S3 
rabbit-fur stuck full of feathers, among which those of the Carolina Dove 
were conspicuous. These latter birds are extremely abundant all over 
Arizona and in the dry season they are often at such straits for water as 
to congregate in immense flocks at the water-holes, few and far between, 
which alone render it possible to traverse some parts of the unblest 
Territory. On the morning of which I write, reveille was sounded by 
the clapping and whistling of a thousand eager wings, now venturing 
near, then frightened from the coveted water where men and animals were 
crowding. In other times, the Dove brought tidings of dry land ; in 
Arizona now, where everything goes, by contraries, river-sites are many? 
but the sight of a Dove is a surer sign of water. — Elliott Coues, Wask- 
ington , D. C. 
An Erroneous Record of the Orange-crowned Warbler ( Hel - 
minthophaga celata ) in New Hampshire. — In Vol. Ill, pp. 96, 97 of this 
Bulletin, Mr. John Murdoch recorded the capture of an Orange-crowned 
Warbler at the Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire, by the Messrs. Bangs of 
Boston. I have lately had an opportunity of examining this specimen 
and find it to be a Tennessee Warbler {Helminthophaga peregrinal), in the 
ordinary autumnal plumage. It is but just to the Messrs. Bangs to state 
that they are not to be held responsible for this blunder, the bird having 
been submitted by them to an ornithologist of some standing, one in 
whose determination they placed perfect confidence. Nor can Mr. Mur- 
doch (who I believe took all his facts at second hand) be blamed for 
accepting the same supposed good authority. — William Brewster, 
Cambridge , Mass. 
On the Generic Name Helminthophaga. — The change of a generic 
name, especially one long established, is in any case unfortunate, and in 
the present instance seems particularly so; yet the plain rules of zoological 
nomenclature leave no alternative. The generic name He l m in t hop ha ga , 
proposed in 1850 by Cabanis for a well-known group of American War- 
blers, was used in a sub-generic sense about forty-seven years previously, 
by Bechstein, who, in 1803 (Taschenbuch, p. 548), included under this 
name the Nightingale and Redbreast of Europe (Luscinia philomela and 
Erithactis rtibecula') ; in consequence of which' (no other name having, 
apparently, been proposed for the group in question) it becomes neces- 
sary to rename the genus so long called Helminthophaga. In proposing 
a new name, which I am very reluctant to do, I have selected the term 
Helminthopliila , on account of its similarity to the one so long in use. 
It is proper to state here that my attention was called to this point by Dr. 
L. Stejneger, the eminent Norwegian ornithologist. 
Leaving out H. lawrencei and H. leucobronchialis , which Mr. Brewster 
has pretty clearly proven to be hybrids of H. pinus and H. chrysoptera, 
the known species of this genus are as follows : — 
1. He Im in thophila bachmani, (Aud.).: 
2. Helminthopliila chrysoptera (Linn.). 
3. Helminthophila pinus (Linn. ) . 
