i8'4 The Irish Naturalid. September, 191 2r.. 



REVIEW. 



A LOCAL LIST. 



A Catalogue of the Vertebrate Fauna of Dumfriesshire. Bv Hugh S.. 

 Gladstone, M.A^ F.R^.E., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U., author of " The 

 Birds of Dumfriesshire." With map. Pp. 80. Dumfries: J.Maxwell 

 and Son, 1912. 



Mr. H. S. Gladstone's " Catalogue of the Vertebrate Fauna of Dum- 

 friesshire " has evidently been drawn up with much care, the author's own 

 volume on the " Birds of Dumfriesshire " furnishing, of course, the basis for 

 the ornithological part, while the notes of the late Mr. Robert Service are 

 specially indicated as having provided most of the material ior the rest.- 

 In nomenclature the author claims to have followed the " latest system," 

 and trinomials are applied to a good many of the birds in the " Catalogue " 

 but not to anything like the number that would have received them had the 

 " Hand List " of Mr. Hartert and his colleagues been out when these pages 

 went to press. We cannot help thinking that it would be better for 

 British or Britannic county faunas to preserve uniformity with one 

 another by following the names hitherto in use than far each such work 

 to differentiate itself by following the system that happened to be " latest" 

 when it was written. £t may, however, be taken for granted that both 

 plans will possess their votaries. We are more concerned over Mr. Glad- 

 stone's treatment of the local names of Dumfriesshire animals than at his 

 choice in the matter of systematic names. He only mentions in the body 

 of this " Catalogue " such local names as he thinks " misleading " — 

 among which, by the way, we get the amusing caution that a country- 

 man's reference to " Nightingales " in Dumfrieshire need not startle the 

 ornithologist, since moths are sometimes spoken of as " Nightingales " in 

 that county. Any local names that the author thinks innocuous are rele- 

 gated to the index. Surely this is burying an interesting feature rather 

 cruelly out of sight. Besides, the inclusion of such names in the text would 

 have furnished an opportunity for some particulars as to which local name 

 — in the case of a species possessing several — is the more generally in use.^ 

 For instance, is a Dumfriesshire man more apt to speak of a Yellow Bunting 

 as a Gunner, a Yeldrock, a Yellow-hammer, a Yellow Yite, a Yeorlin, or a 

 Yolt ? Mr, Gladstone contents himself with giving each of these six names 

 separately in the Index, and telling by a parenthesis that it belongs to the 

 Yellow Bunting. Similarly, we find that the Chaffinch, the Dipper, and 

 the Long-tailed Titmouse are rather rich in a variety of local names, for 

 which, however, we have to spend a good deal of time in searching. Mr. 

 Gladstone is entitled to thanks for the amount of information given, but 

 we think he might have set a better example to others in the matter of 

 arrangement. A few references to authorities would also have improved 

 the " Catalogue," though the author apparently thinks that these would 

 have needed too much space, 



C. B. M. 



