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REMARKS ON VERNACULAR AND SCIENTIFIC 

 ORNITHOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE. 



I WAS glad to see in the last number (p. 238) the subject of 

 ornithological nomenclature treated of on sound principles, and 

 with a view to consistency in that hitherto much neglected depart- 

 ment. Writers on ornithology — even those of deserved scientific 

 repute — adopt names which they themselves own to be erroneous, 

 giving as their excuse that they are generally used ! To make this 

 the more evident, I will give a few instances. Selby, in his 

 excellent " British Ornithology,"* places the white-tailed ossifrage 

 (Ossifraga albicilla, mihi) in a different genus from the golden 

 eagle, (Aquila aurea, Willughby,) and yet he calls it eagle, both ir» 

 vernacular and scientific nomenclature. The white-headed osprey 

 (Pandion leucocephalus, mihi,) is also called Haliceetus, or sea eagle, 

 although not in the genus Aquila. The Falco rujipes of Bechstein, 

 although left in the genus falcon, has most unaccountably a sepa- 

 rate generic name allotted to it j it is called red-legged hobby. 

 The honey pern, although removed from the buzzards, (ButeoJ is 

 yet called a buzzard. There are three British species in the genus 

 hirundo, (swallow,) and yet Selby calls only one of them a swal- 

 low. But worse than all, he continues that prejudicial, mischief- 

 working name, goat-sucker and Capri-mulgus. How an author of 

 such generally sound views could have adopted such an inex- 

 cusable name as this, we are utterly at a loss to account for, unless 

 indeed, it be from thoughtlessness. " There is," as Wilson well 

 remarks, " something worse than absurd in continuing to brand a 

 whole family of birds with a knavish name, after they are univer- 

 sally known to be innocent of the charge." — American Ornithology. 

 The names "owl" (Strix,) *'hawk" (Accipiter,) and ''swallow'* 

 CHirundo,) which have also been bestowed on this genus, are 

 obviously erroneous, so that the name proposed by Bewick seems 

 to be the least objectionable. Indeed, nightjar is very descriptive 

 of a habit of the bird. Mudie, in his charming " Feathered Tribes," 

 objects to it, but he does not state his grounds. It is warmly 

 defended in the mangled second edition of Montagu. Vociferator 

 (proposed page 239) is likewise an excellent name j but 1 do not 

 like Vociferator Europeus, N. Wood, for it is not the only European 

 species. I therefore propose to name the species the fern nightjar, 

 (Vociferator melolontha.) In naming animals, in my opinion, four 

 kinds of specific appellations should be avoided j 1st, naming from 

 size, such as great snipe, (Scolopax major,) little grebe, (Podiceps 

 minor •) 2nd, naming from the commonness of the species, for 

 instance, common wren (Anorthura communis,) common grosbeak, 

 (Coccothraustes vulgaris ,) 3rd, taking the specific distinction from 

 the country in which the bird is found, such as Bohemian waxwing, 



* Two vols. 8vo., 2d. edition; 1833, Longman & Co. 



