I20 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



be said in favour of this course. What influence the list will have in 

 bringing about a much-needed uniformity in the nomenclature and 

 classification of British birds remains to be seen. The weight of its 

 authority ought, and doubtless will go a long way in that direction. 

 Personally, however, it is our conviction that a new edition ofYarrell's 

 British Bi?-ds, or Saunders' Matiual would do more to standardise the 

 nomenclature and arrangement than any other publication. 



Apart from the above bones of contention, there can be but one 

 opinion regarding the list, and that is that it comes very near high- 

 water mark as a model of what such a compilation should be. An 

 introduction of i6 pages contains, besides the usual explanatory 

 matter, a summary of British Birds according to their status. Including 

 subspecies, the number of Birds recognised by the committee as 

 "British" is 475, and the systematic presentation of them occupies no 

 less than 319 pages. Under each species and subspecies there are 

 given a few selected " References," a note on the etymology of the 

 scientific name (a useful piece of information), and a comprehensive 

 statement in two paragraphs of its status and distribution (i) in these 

 Islands and (2) abroad. With few exceptions these paragraphs, so 

 far as we have been able to test them, accurately epitomise our 

 knowledge up to date. The status of some forms is admittedly a matter 

 of opinion, but the case of the Osprey can hardly be in doubt — among 

 our summer visitors, not the residents, has one gathers always been 

 its proper place. A third record of Tengmalm's Owl from Shetland, 

 published in this magazine for 19 12, has been overlooked. Three 

 Appendices and an ample Index complete the volume. Appendix I. 

 contains a list of species the evidence of whose occurrence in the British 

 Islands does not satisfy the committee (the Ring-necked Duck might 

 very well have been relegated to this section) ; II. is the list of "nomina 

 conservanda" ; and III. gives "the reasons for the change of old names 

 or for the non-adoption of changes which have been advocated by recent 

 authors, together with the method of fi.xation of the type of the genera 

 used in the list." 



It will interest Scottish naturalists to know that of the above 475 

 Birds, 374 have occurred in Scotland. These may be classified as 

 follows: Residents, 123; Summer Visitors, 36; Winter Visitors, 45; 

 Birds of Passage, 29; Occasional and Rare Visitors, 141; and the 

 number that breed north of the Borders is 163. Of course this classifi- 

 cation is not rigid, as many species have what may be termed a com- 

 pound status. — W. E. 



