304 ON SCIENTIFIC NOMENCLATURE. 



Ash-coloured Harrier, Circus cineracem. 



A remark or two on the above names and arrangement, and I have done. 

 First as to the arrangement : I have seen the Buzzards placed between the 

 Hawks and Falcons, which I take to be unnatural, and, consequently, wrong. 

 Why ? because the Buzzards are among the ignoble, or the irreclaimable, and 

 the Hawks and Falcons are the noble or reclaimable birds of prey QThe general 

 habits, form, and structure, likewise confirm the propriety of Mr. Sweeting's 

 arrangement. — Ed.]. The Buzzards should, therefore, stand as above, between the 

 Kites and Harriers. It will then be found, that, according to the quinary or 

 circular system, the Goshawk being at the top of the list, and the Buzzard at 

 or near the bottom, they will approach sufficiently near to each other, both as 

 regards their configuration and habits. 



As to the names, they are mostly such as have been conferred by various 

 eminent naturalists, and are generally received and approved. Those which I 

 believe are new, and perhaps unscientific, are of my own construction, and are 

 in a private list which I wrote out some time since for my own amusement. 

 As I consider them appropriate, perhaps you will allow me to say a few words 

 respecting them. 



The tarsi and toes of the Merlin are, in proportion to his size, remarkably 

 longer and more slender than those of the Falcons (FalcoJ, in which respect it 

 approaches the Sparrow Hawk. I have therefore placed it between that bird 

 and the Falcons. If Halia'e'tus is applicable to the Ossifrage, as possessing 

 certain generic distinctions, that or any other similar name is totally inapplicable 

 to the Osprey ; for if we allow that its beak resembles that of the Ossifrage, in 

 the conformation of its feet, and above all of its talons, it differs widely, not 

 only from that bird, but also from all the rest of the family, and is, therefore, 

 entitled to a peculiar generic appellation. Should any hypercritic object to my 

 proposed name by saying that it implies half a fish, I reply that, on the same 

 principle, Haliaetus implies half a sea, either of which objections would be too 

 absurd for ridicule. Falco is a much better name for the Falcons than any 

 Greek word can be, as it implies at once their grand characteristics, as regards 

 both beak and talons. 



The term lagopus, as applied to a bird, signifies, or ought to signify, that not 

 only the tarsi, but also the toes, even to the claws, are covered with hair- like 

 feathers, as in the Red Grous or the Ptarmigan, which is not the case in any 

 of the Falcon family ; and as I had seen the name applied to a foreign species, 

 namely, the Booted Falcon (F. pennatusj, I thought it would equally suit the 

 Rough-legged Buzzard. Pennipes is, I conceive, still better. 



The specific designation Britannicus, as applied to the Red Grous, which I 



