1903. Reviews. 99 



one specific name following in alphabetical order, so that the list serves 

 to a great extent as a generic synonymy. As Mr. Sherborn wisely re- 

 marks in his preface, "no synonymy of species is attempted; that 

 depends on the idiosyncrasy of the systematist." 



The modern craze for strict " priority " in nomenclature obliges all 

 zoologists who do much systematic work to refer frequently to old 

 authorities. A few minutes at this volume will save such workers hours 

 of doubtful search in libraries, for they will see here exactly what authors 

 have used any name, and how the}- have applied it We hope that we 

 may be able to congratulate Mr. Sherborn at some not distantly future 

 date on the accomplishment of further instalments of this invaluable 

 Index. The printing is excellent— so good that the pages almost look 

 like interesting reading. 



BIRD NAMES. 



A Glossary of Popular, Local, and Old-fashioned Names 

 of British Birds. By CharIvES Louis Hett, Author of a Dic- 

 tionary of Bird Notes. London : Henry Sotheran & Co. Pp. 114. 

 Price ij. 



Mr. Hett is to be congratulated on the success of his glossary of bird 

 names, of which an earlier issue was reviewed in the Irish Naturalist 

 for 1899. In the present edition the number of " popular, local, and old- 

 fashioned names " is brought up to 3,000, and a great improvement has 

 been effected by more careful arrangement. We are glad to see that all 

 the omissions to which attention was drawn in the Irish Naturalist 

 review have now been removed ; and although we have no doubt that 

 the list of local names might still be largely increased, Mr. Hett has cer- 

 tainly done excellent work in accumulating so large a number. We 

 notice, however, a few which, being mere mis-spelt or mis-pronounced 

 renderings — as "Great Awk " and "Solingtary Snipe" — were not worth 

 including. " Heave Jar," though used by Mrs. Owen in her "Son of the 

 Marshes" series, is so o1)viously " Eve-jar " with a superfluous aspirate, 

 that we think Mr. Hett might as well have given us '"Erring Gull " too. 

 " Cuckow," which Professor Newton and some other ornithologists 

 apparently still prefer to " Cuckoo," had a better claim to be included 

 than the above, but is omitted. " Sand Lark " is not limited, as Mr. Hett 

 seems to think, to the Common Sandpiper, Sanderling, and Ringed 

 Plover; and, for that manner, a great many of the names quoted are far 

 more miscellaneously applied than the dictionary gives us to understand 

 The Chough of old writers was certainl}' not always Pyrrhocorax graculus. 

 An Iri.sh name in common use for the Heron — " Koo-reesk '* — does not 

 seem to have found its way to the author's notice. 



C. B. M. 



