J . A • A • 
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 
77th Street and Central Park West 
New York December 21, 1908. 
DEPARTMENT OF 
MAMMALOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY 
Dear Mr. Brewster:- 
I have your letter of December 20, In refer¬ 
ence to the classification of birds for the new Check-List and 
to the Black Duck question. In respect to the latter, the Com¬ 
mittee simply took rubrlpes as the only available name for the 
Black Duck group, without ruling on the status of rubripes as a 
subspecies of obscu ra, leaving a name for the Green-legged Black 
Duck to be provided for,presumably by jrou. The name communis 
suggested by you is a good enough name provided it has not before 
been employed with the generic name Anas . Such names as communis 
and vulgaris , etc., are rather dangerous names to take up now since 
they were such favorite designations with the early systematists• 
Apparently, judging by the British Museum ’Catalogue of Birds' 
the name communis has not been associated with Anas , ?o in all prob¬ 
ability it is quite safe to employ it for the Black Duck. 
In regard to the classification for the new Check-List, I have 
heard from only Mr. Stone and Mr. Ridgway. The former favors 
Sharpe's system, while the latter does not. Stone makes a plea in 
his letter for the adoption of Sharpe. My present belief is that 
there is no chance for the adoption of Sharpe, which leaves the Sub¬ 
committee's classification or the present one to be adopted with 
modifications. 
Sincerely yours, 
Mr. William Brewster, 
145 Brattle St., 
fl p’fi i ■""pop 
