THE NEW NOMENCLATURE OF BRITISH BIRDS 197 



Fortunately British birds are well known by their 

 vernacular names, otherwise we fear our ornithologists 

 would not recognise a considerable number of their familiar 

 friends under their new, or, more correctly, obsolete 

 scientific titles, many of which have no place in the 

 synonomy given in modern literature of the subject. 

 These changes as regards British birds are a mere 

 drop in the bucket when these new rules are applied 

 to ornithology generally. What becomes of the nomen- 

 clature in that magnificent array of volumes, the British 

 Museum Catalogue of Birds, and of the recently published 

 Hand -List of them? The nomenclature of this great 

 and only history of the birds of the world is based 

 upon the twelfth edition of Linnaeus' Systcma, and the 

 nomenclature of the tenth edition is not quoted in the 

 synonomy of the vast majority of the species. What of 

 the changes entailed in the nomenclature of the Animal 

 Kingdom as a whole ? 



The British Ornithologists' Union has appointed a 

 committee to prepare a new edition of its List of British 

 Birds. This committee has held numerous meetings, and 

 it is expected that the result of its labours will soon be 

 published. We look forward to its pronouncements with 

 interest, and with confidence in the judicial spirit in which 

 it has approached the important subject of nomenclature. 



For ourselves, though our sympathies are strongly in 

 favour of the British Association's rules, yet we are willing 

 to view the present situation in a liberal spirit. There 

 must, however, be concessions, and we regard it as 

 essential that a number of time-honoured names must be 

 conserved. 



We have felt compelled to discuss this subject of nomen- 

 clature, because so little seems to be known in some quarters 

 regarding the past great efforts in the cause of uniformity. 



Apart from its great changes in nomenclature, the book 

 is a welcome and useful volume. It affords an up-to-date list 

 of British species and racial forms, with a concise and, on the 

 whole, accurate account of their distribution both at home 

 and abroad. 



