On noting the structural difference, the cause or function of these papillae at once becomes a point of interest. Why have these two pads been modified into long papillae (.12 inch in a dried specimen), and provided with a solid core? Now the foot of Accipiter is so constructed that the first toe opposes the second toe, and their claws move in nearly parallel arcs. This is not the case with the third and fourth toes, which are longer and not opposable to one another. Thus the claws can be opposed to nothing except the middle portions of the toes to which they belong. But when the claw is thus flexed a small space well adapted for grasping twigs and feathers is formed by the papillae, the penultimate phalanx and the claw, the point projecting beyond resembling the feet of certain crustacea and lice. Hence the function of the papillae would seem to be to aid the third and fourth claws in grasping small objects, and it is an interesting point to notice that the foot of Accipiter fuscus is thus drawn in North American Birds, by Baird, Brewer and Ridgway.
How far the same considerations hold in other species I cannot say, but as mentioned above, allied forms seem to possess the character to a less degree.—J. Amory Jeffries, Boston, Mass.
Supplementary Notes on two Texas Birds.—In a recent paper[[64]] on a collection of birds made in southwestern Texas, I referred a series of Hylocichla unalascæ to the restricted form, with the remark that several specimens closely approached var. auduboni. Upon reading the article, an esteemed correspondent wrote me that one of these aberrant examples, which had passed into his hands, appeared to him to be true auduboni. In this opinion, after a reëxamination of the specimen, I concur. The bird in question has a wing of 3.82 inches, which, though decidedly under the average of auduboni, is more than should be allowed unalascæ proper.[[65]] Here, then, is another species, besides those previously cited, which is represented by two distinct varieties in the tract of country explored.
The single specimen of Coturniculus passerinus taken in the same locality represents the western variety perpallidus, under which, by an oversight, it was not included.—Nathan Clifford Brown, Portland, Me.
Addenda to the Preliminary List of Birds ascertained to occur in the Adirondack Region, Northeastern New York.[[66]]—
178. Dendrœca striata (Forst.) Baird. Black-poll Warbler.—In the collection of the late A. Jenings Dayan (of Lyons Falls, N. Y.) is a female of this species that he killed in the town of Lyonsdale in Lewis Co., May 23, 1877.
179. Dendrœca pinus (Wilson) Baird. Pine-creeping Warbler.—Mr. Dayan took a full-plumaged male D. pinus at Lyonsdale, Lewis Co., May 8, 1877. I have never observed the species within the limits of the Adirondack Region, and it must be regarded as a rare bird here.
180. Asio accipitrinus (Pallas) Newton. Short-eared Owl.—I have seen two specimens of the Short-eared Owl that were taken within the limits of the Adirondack Region, in Lewis County. They were both killed east of the Black River Valley—one in the town of Greig, and the other in Lyonsdale.
181. Nyctiardea grisea nævia (Bodd.) Allen. Night Heron.—I have seen a Night Heron that was shot at Crown Point (in Essex Co.) on Lake Champlain. There were two of them together, and both were killed.
182. Calidris arenaria (Linn.) Illig. Sanderling.—On the 5th of October, 1881 Mr. O. B. Lockhart killed, from a flock, four Sanderlings at Lake George, in Warren Co. (Dr. A. K. Fisher.)