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IOO THE CONDOR [ VoL. VIII February 23--Heavy sea and strong head wind; no birds of any kind seen up to breakfast'time. 3:3o P.m. 3 gulls following. Altho the wind is on our bow and the gulls are obliged to head into it they mov. e forward on the ship's course. The diagram will make this plain. February 24?Anchored in the Yangtze River at ?2 last night. Altho anchorage is 3o or 4o miles from the mouth, this river is so wide that it appears as if we were in a great bay. The water is fairly thick with yellow sediment which is carried far to sea and discolors the China Sea for many miles. The erosion by such a stream must be enormous. Nothing seeu in the way of birds except a few gulls. The next day gulls are more numerous. February 26?Left river and ran down China coast; ?oo or more gulls follow- ing as we are passing among two groups of small islauds, the Chu San and Fishgr- man Islands. These islands and the adjacent coast were the hot-bed of Chinese pirates until steam navigation and the machine gun put them out of business. The islands are now inhabited by Chinese fishermen whose junks can be seen dotted over the water in all directions. February 27?Warmer; smooth sea; 2o to 3o gulls. February 28?Fine smooth sea; many gulls on hand. There are numerous small islands off shore; some of these should be investigated for nesting colonies of sea birds. March ?Hongkong; raining and cold in great contrast to the extreme heat we experienced here last August. Milvns is over the water here in small numbers and two individuals hang around the clock to?er in the center of town. March 3?Left Hongkong for Manila. Many hawks about the bay; no gulls seen until we neared entrance of harbor when a few picked us up and followed until late in the afternoon. March 4--Gulls must have left us last night as none seen today nor afterwards. March 6?Dropped anchor in Manila Bay late last night. ?anila, "Atratus versus Megalonyx" BY ROBERT RIDGWAY T gives me both pleasure and pain (especially the latter) to say that, notwith- standingthe opinion which [ expressed in the March number of T?; CoN?)o?, I now believe Mr. Grinnell and Mr. Swarth were justified in considering my Pipilo maculalus alralus a synonym of P.m. megalonyx (Baird). Mr. Swarth has kindly sent me additional specimens of both the Southern California and the Rocky Moun- tain forms for examination, and these seem to show that the type of P. megalonyx is probably a male, in its first autumn or winter, of the resident bird of Southern California, and not, as [ thought, of the Rocky Mountain form which has for so many years been known as P.m. megalonyx. The latter, therefore, should, I be- lieve, be known as p.rn. rnonlanus Swarth. Washington, D.C.