^°i'qo6^'] From Magazines, &c. 01 



Vernacular Names.— Mr. D. Seth-Smith, F.Z.S., writes to 

 the Avkultural Magasine {A'^vW, 1906) : — " I quite admit that in 

 this country we ought to recognise the vernacular names 

 employed in other English-speaking countries for birds which 

 are natives of those countries, so long as they are appropriate. 



. . In cases in which the vernacular name is eminently 

 unsuitable, as it often is, we in this country are surely entitled 

 to adopt a term that is more appropriate. For instance, in 

 Australia several of the Parrakeets are termed ' Lories ' which 

 are in no way entitled to this designation. The well-known 

 King Parrakeet is called the ' King Lory,' the Crimson-wing 

 {Ptistes erytJiropteriis) the ' Red-winged Lory,' and sometimes 

 the Pennant Parrakeet is called the ' Crimson Lory,' and the 

 Yellow-rumped Parrakeet the ' Swamp Lory.' The term ' Lory ' 

 should, of course, be confined to the Loriida;, the brush-tongued, 

 honey-eating Parrots. But there is no reason why we should 

 not, where possible, follow the Australian vernacular names. 

 Where is the sense in calling their Red-browed Finch {^Egintha 

 temporalis) the ' Sydney Waxbill,' or their Spotted-sided Finch 

 {Staganopleura guttata) the ' Diamond Sparrow .'*'" One reason 

 probably is that these birds are called " Waxbills " and 

 " Diamond Sparrows " respectively by at least ten Australians 

 for every one who calls them anything else, and it is natural 

 enough that the bird-fanciers who take Australian birds to 

 England should take with them their " popular " and not their 

 " vernacular " names, though these should theoretically be 

 identical. The fact seems to be that our Vernacular List is 

 badly in need of further revision, so as to make it " understanded 

 of the people," who can hardly be blamed for failing to 

 recognise their favourite Magpie when it appears as a White- 

 backed Crow-Shrike, nor for inability to pierce the disguise of 

 the Yellow-rumped Acanthiza and discover the homely 

 " Tomtit " that they have known from childhood. 



Migration. — A sub-comm.ittee was appointed by the British 

 Ornithologists' Club in 1904 to collect and collate evidence 

 regarding the movements of common migrants within England 

 and Wales, and the results of this sub-committee's work are now 

 published in the form of the Club's Bulletin (vol. xvii.) Twenty- 

 nine species, which winter abroad and breed in Great Britain, 

 were selected for observation. Over 150 individual observers 

 and 50 lighthouses and lightships sent in returns on the slips 

 furnished by the committee. The object was to trace when and 

 where the birds entered the country, how they dispersed them- 

 selves over it, when they reached their breeding-places, and, 

 finally, how some of them passed through, and out of, the 

 country. It was found that immigration proceeded apparently 



