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because, as I have before observed, they are of little or no use to the scientific 

 Naturalist, and their use to others will be done away with if they are to be 

 changed incessantly, and transposed backwards and forwards, thus rendering con- 

 fusion only worse confounded, no doubt with the best intentions. Under these 

 circumstances I advocate the retention of such English names as either have no 

 meaning (at all events none which persons in general would detect), for instance, 

 Guillemot, Auk, and Eagle ; or if they have a meaning let it be as nearly as 

 possible a literal translation of the Greek or Latin name. In cases where a bird 

 has been properly removed to one genus from another, or to a new genus, the 

 classical name being changed, it is also right that the English name should under- 

 go a transmutation, but the original name should be reserved for the original or 

 most typical genus. Mr. C. T. Wood seems inclined to act upon this principle, 

 and he is quite right in doing so ; but as he has also written upon the subject of 

 nomenclature, I will take this opportunity of expressing my opinion of the way in 

 which, in some other matters, he has worked out and developed his own theses. 



He is very unfortunate in one of his interrogations : " what a much more 

 lively expression of the birds" he asks, " do the following specific names convey ?" 

 (than the original ones):* — " Rosecoloured Amzel :" may I ask what expres- 

 sion this latter word conveys, unless some latent and recondite one, of which, I am 

 sure, most persons, in common with myself, are ignorant : the same observation 

 applies to Honey Pern, Furze Whinling, Sibilo.us Brahehopper, Common 

 Longtail, &c. &c. ; to which the " Rose Muflin is added ;" " Afedula Sonans" 

 of Mr. Wood in one place, " Afedula Rosea" in another. " This," he tells us, 

 " is the Long-tailed Tit of authors ;" and really, the information is not thrown 

 away, for I am not ashamed to confess that without it, I should have been utterly 

 at a loss even to guess what bird was intended. Allow me also to inquire of Mr. 

 C. T. Wood, the meaning and derivation of the word Aiedula. Is A^ihedula in- 

 tended, from Aphides perhaps being preyed on by the bird ? I am inclined to 

 conjecture this to be the case, from Mr. Wood's saying elsewhere, that Phasianus 

 ought to be spelled Fasianus, and Sylvia, Silvia. I hope, however, he will not be 

 offended at my telling him very plainly that here he is quite in error — at least, if 

 he is right, Eton and Oxford are far wide of the mark, for they teach a very dif- 

 ferent orthography, and so also does Pliny, the illustrious patriarch of natural 

 history, who may be supposed to be an authority for the orthography of his own 

 language ; being one of the most elegant writers in it whose works have come 

 down to us, and with which I may profess some little acquaintance, having taken 

 up a portion of them for examination at Oxford, for the first time in that univer- 

 sity. The above instances which I have given of Mr. C. Wood's alterations in 

 nomenclature, are some of them gratuitous ; but even with regard to those which 



* I write from memory, and am, therefore, liable to some trifling inaccuracy. 



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