218 METHODS OF WORK 



sternly prohibits the taking of Ospreys', Bearded Tit- 

 mouse's, and various eggs within its limits. Well, then, 

 you have in South Britain fifty counties for I don't 

 propose to deal with N.B., where the more philosophical 

 boundaries of watersheds have been successfully intro- 

 ducedand I propose to take some common bird such 

 as Fringilla coslebs or Emberiza citrinella, or both, and 

 divide each into fifty sub-species ; thus : E. citrinella 

 northumbriensis ; E. citrinella dunelmensis ; E. citrinella 

 eboracensis, lincolniensis, and so forth, as far as cornu- 

 biensis, and then back again through Wales and the 

 west coast, taking the Midlands afterwards. There will 

 be the names on the asset side of my account and I shall 

 not trouble myself about finding out the differences of 

 all these sub-species, I may safely leave details of that 

 kind to those whom it may sub-specially concern. 



Now will you give me room for a paper of this kind 

 in your " Annals " ? If so, I recommend you to print 

 twice as many copies of that particular number as usual, 

 for I prophesy an enormous run upon it. 



All this new-fashioned stuff and nonsense about 

 trinomials and nomenclature generally is begotten by 

 pride (or self-conceit) upon illiteracy, and a very pretty 

 progeny is the consequence ! Hartlaub wrote to that 

 effect forty years ago, but he was unheeded ; now you 



have X the greatest sinner of all on this side of the 



Atlantic. He has been attacked by men who only half 

 understand their business, so he has been able to score 

 off them. Of course, that has made him worse. His 

 ingenuity I admit, but his deficiency in common sense is 

 obvious.* 



I am sure that the fewer new words a scientific author 

 makes, the better chance he has of obtaining readers, 

 even at the expense every now and then of a circum- 

 locution. 



In like manner I can't see why people can't recognise 

 the existence of breeds or local races without calling 



* Letter to J. A. Harvie- Brown, July 20, 1904. 



