Recent Ornilhulugical Pablicatiuns. 91 



which lie proposes to name Ahiuda cwlivox, will also be read 

 with much interest. 



A new edition of " The 'Zoologist' List of Birds observed in 

 Great Britain and Ireland "* is " compiled from the third edition 

 of Yarrell's British Birds," and, according to the author, " com- 

 prises all the additions and corrections necessary up to the 1st 

 of November, 1859."t As it is "particularly requested that 

 ornithologists will adopt the names here employed," it is per- 

 haps only reasonable that we, who do not adopt them, should 

 shortly state our reasons for declining to comply with Mr. New- 

 man's demands, and for exciting our brother naturalists to join 

 us in our rebellion. 



In the first place, the scientific nomenclature of this list is by 

 no means in accordance with YarrelPs (as witness Falco palum- 

 barius and Falco milvus) ; it is also entirely arbitrary as regards 

 the adoption or non-adoption of generic divisions ; and, with 

 respect to the names of species, the " golden rule of priority " is 

 seldom, if ever, attended to. Several species are included which 

 are omitted by Yarrell, — e.g. the "Greenland Falcon," " Bimacu- 

 lated Duck," "Paget's Pochard," and " Swift Tern." Two species 

 at least included by Yarrell are omitted — Schinz's Sandpiper J 

 and " The American Scaup;" the former resting satisfactorily 

 on two specimens mentioned by ]\Ir. Yarrell and on a third re- 

 corded in 'The Zoologist,' p. 6537 (now in Mr. J. H. Gurney's 

 collection), and the latter on an example in Mr.Tindall's collection, 

 referred to by Mr. Yarrell, and originally recorded in ' The Zoolo- 

 gist' (p. 4631). The North American Stint {Tiding a jmsilla, L.) 

 is included, we suppose as being mentioned in Mr. Yarrell's pre- 

 face ; but the Mottled Owl {Sirix asio, L.), though mentioned in 

 the same place, is omitted. 



The " Little Owl" is called " Strix passerina, Lth., not Ln.," 

 with a note that " this bird is the Strix nudipes of Nillson " 

 {sic). [It ought to be Nilsson.] Linnseus's unobjectionable 

 name, Strix noctua (which also has the priority), is thus discarded 



* London, 1859, one slieet. 



t See advertisement in 'The Zoologist' for December 185!^. 



X Trinya scliinzii, Bp.=T. bonapartii, Schlegel. 



