ON MAKING THE ENGLISH GENERIC NAMES, &C. 239 



this is quite immaterial, as he is certainly wron^ either way ; for 

 the name Bunting cannot be inappropriate, Emberiza being the 

 only Latin generic name this bird has received, and Reed Bunting 

 is the most expressive that could possibly be found, as it constantly 

 nestles amongst reeds, and is mostly found in wet, reedy places. 

 And, moreover, if the English names be inapplicable to this 

 bird, so must the Latin be also : to these, however, the worthy 

 Professor seems to have no objection. But Rennie's names are 

 beneath comment, as may be seen by referring to his edition of 

 the Ornithological Dictionary. For instance, he has given 

 Motacilla lofor to the Pied Wagtail ; as if it might not be applied 

 with equal propriety to all the true or typical Wagtails. Why 

 not call it M. maculosa P Linnceus's name, M. alba, is of course 

 absurd, and yet all ornithologists since his time have adopted it. 

 Nyctichelidon Europfeus is another name proposed by this " Bare- 

 faced Crow (Corvus nudirostris) of King's College." This name 

 is no less faulty than the other, as this bird is no Swallow. The 

 best in my opinion which has been proposed for this bird is 

 Vociferator Eutopcnus (mihi). If any one can find any objection 

 to this name, I sha'l be much obliged to him if he will mention it. 



If naturalists have any regard for order and symmetry, I 

 would advise them no longer to disgrace their catalogues — which 

 it should of course be their aim to render as complete and fault- 

 less as possible — by the loose and unscientific practice of giving 

 diflferent English generic names to birds belonging to the same 

 genus. The difficulties thus put in the way of the student are 

 evident ; if, for instance, a student who has made but little pro- 

 gress in the science, were asked to what genus or genera the 

 Hedge Sparrow and House Sparrow belong, he would probably 

 answer that they are both in the genus Sparrow (Passer, auct.), 

 although so far is this from being the case, that they are not even 

 in the same family — the one be'ongs to the Fam. Sylviadae 

 (Vigors) and the other to the Tringillidae (Vig). But, if the 

 same birds were called Hedge Dunnock and Hou-e Sparrow, he 

 would at once perceive that they could not possibly belong to 

 the same genus. 



I am extremely happy in being able to mention Temminck 

 and Stephens amongst those writers on ornithology who have 

 attended to this important part of nomenclature. Even these 

 have not always succeeded, but they have got the principle, and 

 that is more than half way towards being right. W^here Buflfon 

 has given but one name to a bird, Temminck invariably has both, 

 as in the case of the Grey Snowflake (Nyctea cinerea, mihi; 

 Strix bubo, Linn.; Bubo maximus, Sibbald): Buffon merely 

 calls it "Le Grand-Due," but Temminck " Le Hibou Grand- 

 Due." The latter is an excellent systematist and a tolerable 

 field naturalist — the former was merely an eloquent writer. 



NEVILLE WOOD. 



Foston Hall, Derbyshire, April 9, 1835. 



May, 1835. — vol. ii. no. x. 2l . 



