^5 THE BIRDS OF BRITAIN, 



mentioned, I prefer the designation Rubecula, and have termed the 

 Robin Redbreast, Rubecula familiarisy a name to which none can 

 object." This title is singularly appropriate, as applied to our little 

 friend " with bosom red,'' besides being far more euphonious than 

 the harsh name " Erifthaca." Greek names should be avoided as 

 much as possible, it being desirable to draw the scientific nomencla- 

 ture from one source. 



Selby says he adopts Cataraetes in preference to Lestris, on ac- 

 count of the priority of the former ; Cataraetes having been given by 

 Willughby, and Lestris by lUiger and Temminck. Then why has 

 lie not adopted Pluvialis instead of CharadriuSj and Ficedula in- 

 stead of Curruca ? Those names have the claim of priority and 

 euphony too. With regard to the Fauvets, Blyth remarks : " The 

 best and most appropriate name that has hitherto been applied to 

 the Fauvettes, is the term Ficedula, of Aldrovand. The appellation 

 Curruca (derived from the Latin word curro, to run), cannot, with 

 propriety, be affixed to any genus of warblers, inasmuch as they all 

 move forward by hopping ; it would, therefore, I think, be better 

 to reject altogether the term Curruca^ as objectionable and inappro- 

 priate, and to call the genus Ficedula.^' Curruca I have applied to 

 the An nets, as these birds may be appropriately so called. There 

 is only one British species, the Alpine Annet (Curruca collaris, 

 W.). "Wild" and Jems can of course, never be made a specific 

 name, for domestication does not change the species of a bird. Mr. 

 Neville Wood, in his accurate account of the Brake Nightingale, 

 (see Analyst, vol. ii, p. 394), has committed this error : he calls the 

 Ring Duck (Anas boschas, Lin.), the " Wild Duck." There are, 

 however, many species of wild Duck : if he had intended to specify 

 the wild bird in contradistinction to the tame, he should have said 

 the "wild Ring Duck (Anas boschas, yar.jerusjj** or, for the do- 

 mesticated variety, the " tame Ring Duck (Anas boschas, var. do- 

 mestica). When it is necess£«:y to mention the birds often, the spe- 

 cific term " Ring,'' or whatever else it is, may, of course, be omit- 

 ted, but " wild" and " tame" can, in no case, be admitted as specific 

 names. 



A new mode of designating birds is now practised by some Orni- 

 thologists : for instance, suppose they wanted to designate the 



