382 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



improvements are for facilitating the work. I tliink that we 

 may very soon agree that many corrections have caused more 

 trouble than relief — as, for instance, such improvements as 

 Heniconetta for Eniconetta, and the like — and that they only 

 have succeeded in swelling our lists of synonyms. 



" The only rule which can be carried out with safety is the 

 use of the oldest name, without regard to its appearance, 

 derivation, or signification. If this be adopted, most dif- 

 ferences would disappear from the nomenclature, and it is in 

 fact the only rule which is able to establish a passable uni- 

 formity in place of the present variety. Once universally 

 accepted and put to practice, it would save much time, 

 labour, and dispute ; disputes concerning year and date may 

 easily be settled, while all philological and linguistic dis- 

 agreements may be thereby avoided. The question as to 

 which species one or another name is to be referred has 

 nothing to do with the rules of nomenclature, and is there- 

 fore liable to come up at any time.'^ — Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 

 V. 1882, p. 28. 



My proposition was adopted by the Committee of the 

 American Ornithological Union on Classification and Nomen- 

 clature, and is embodied in Canon XL. of the Code [' Code 

 and Check- List, A. O. U.,' 1886, p. 51). 



I am, yours truly, 



Leonhard Stejneger. 



[We regret that we have unintentionally misrepresented 

 Dr. Stejneger's views in the criticism above noticed. — Edd.] 



Reeves's Pheasant at Home. — The 'Field' of May 15th con- 

 tains a letter from Mr. E. Fitzgerald Creagh, with an in- 

 teresting account of his chase after Phasianus reevesi. 



" It was from Tchang, a post at the head waters of the 

 Yangtzu, the great river of China, or rather where that river 

 leaves its gorges, that I started with the stream to a large 

 valley where I knew Reeves's Pheasants had been seen. It is 



