<I>Thalassidroma castro</I>, of Harcourt

Vo;-

8

J

^VI] GeneralNotes. I

77

Hermit, and Swainson

Warblers.

There

isalsothe

specimen

of

Townsend's Warbler from

Chester Co., Pennsylvania, the only

one

takeneast of the

Rocky Mountains, which passed through

severalhands,selling forfabulousprices.

There

isalsoan

Ipswich

Sparrow, obviously secured long before the type

was

obtained.

Incontemplating these

specimens which have

reposedin their old cabinetfornearly

30

years

untouched by

the

hands

of ornithol- ogists, their antiquated labels oblivious to the ^{edicts of} the A. O. U.

committee on

nomenclature,

one seems

to

be

almostin touch withthe past generation. Besides those I

have mentioned

are

some

PhiladelphiaVireos

and

other birds collected

by

Prof.

Cope

at the time

he was

just starting

upon

his scientificcareer

and

presented

by him

toTurnbull.

One

cannot but

wonder what would have been

the

outcome had

^Prof.

Cope

in later years continuedtoturnhis attention to ornithology insteadof neglect- ing it, as he did almostentirely.

Irecall

one

instance;

some two

years before his death,

when

I

was engaged

in systematizing a

heterogeneous

collection of birds

he

entered the

room and

inthe courseof conversation took exception to

some

of the characters

used

in their classification.

"

What you

want," he said,

"are

alcoholic

specimens;

then

you can

get at their proper relationships^;"

and

added, witha smile,

"

some day perhaps

Ishall getatthe birds

and

straighten

them

allout."

But

otherfieldscontinuedto

demand

his attention

and

Philadelphia

was

prevented

from adding

his

name

toher already longlistofnotableornithologists.

GENERAL NOTES.

Thalassidromacastro of Harcourt.

— Now

thatthequestion of Thalas- sidroma castro vs. Oceanodroma cryfitoleucura has been brought up by Mr.Grantin'

The

Ibis,'andpassedupon,asfaras the A.O. U.^'Check- List'isconcerned,bytheA.O.U.

Committee

onClassification,ornithol- ogists ma}'wish to consult the original description,whichwillbe

more

generally accessibleif reprinted in

'The

Auk.' It is as follows: "It differsfromLeach'spetrel, towhich it is closelyallied,inbeing larger;

i7

8

^GeneralNotes. TAuk LApril

it has a shorter wing and shorter tarsus,though itsentire length is greater; ithasalso a squaretail insteadof a forked one. It measures seven inches anda halfentire length: from thecarpus tothe end of thewing, liveinchesandthree quarters;tarsus,three-quartersofaninch.

I havecalleditThalassidromacastro, as^I

am

notawarethatit has ever beendescribed before."

(A

Sketchof Madeira,1S51, 123.)

The

specific

name

is derived fromthatof "Roque de Castro,"givenbythe natives.

The

type locality is the Desertas Islands, near Madeira.

— Cm

as.

W.

Richmond,

Washington,D. C.

Pelecanusoccidentalis vs. P.fuscus.

—

Although ^"Pelecanus fuscus,"

creditedtoLinnaeus,Syst. Nat., ed.12,1766, 215,has stoodinour^'Check- List' since1886,aglanceatthe first-mentionedwork-will convince any onethatLinnaeususednosuchname.

He

divides Pelecanus ouocrofalits intotwo varieties,a.orientalis,andp.occidentalis; underthe latter are cited the ^"Onocrotaluss. Pelecanus fuscus" of Sloane's 'Jamaica,' the

"Onocrotalus americanus" of Edwards, the "Pelecanussubfuscus,gula distensili" of Brown's 'Jamaica,' etc.

The

habitat of p is given as

"America," and the references belongmainlyto the

Brown

Pelican of Eastern North America. Varietal names, as used by Linmeus, were italicizedanddesignatedbyaGreekletterinstead of aseparatenumber, but all such

names

were binomial marginal ones, and ought to be recognized. Ifornithologistsacceptthisview our

Brown

Pelicanshould stand as Pelecanus occidentalis; otherwise the P. fuscusof the^'Check- List^'mustbe credited to Gmelin.

—

Ciias.

W. Richmond,

Washington' n. c.

Old

Squaw

(Clangula kyemalis) in Indiana.

— A

few records have beengiven of individuals taken in the State,and in allinstances they wereprobablyblown inland byseverestorms off

Lake

Michigan,where they are usuallyabundantinthewinter season.

On

Feb. 12, 1S99, duringintenselycold weather, aflock of thirteen waskilled atEnglish Lake,Ind.,

some

thirty-fivemiles directlysouthof Lake Michigan. There was no open water, except a smallspace,

some

thirtyyards square,wheretheicehad beencutandtaken out forstoring, and here the flocksuddenly alighted.

They

were evidentlyin anex- hausted condition,hunting foropen water, as they paid no attention totwentyor thirty

men

working around the hole andfloating out the ice,and onlydove

when

struck atwith pike poles.

A gun

was soon procured,andthewholeflock dispatched,andamale specimenwas sent tome.

The

following morning, February13,three

more Ducks

of this speciesattemptedtoalightinthesame hole,which had been kept open bythe icecutters,buta hungry BaldEagle,

who

has anesta half mile distant,stoopedtothem,without success however,andtheycontinueda hurriedflightover the frozenmarshes.