92 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



for uo assignable reason, and confusion is caused by the citation 

 of two other names which are the pecuUar property of two other 

 perfectly distinct species. 



Why is ''Sylvia suecica" marked with a "*," to signify that 

 it is an "accidental or occasional visitor" from Europe, while 

 " S, turdoides " and " S. gulactotes " (it ought to be galactodes) 

 {yaXaKTcoBiTi ; Th. yaXa, -aKTo<;, lac, and eZ8o9, fades) are left 

 unmarked, — though the former species has occurred at least 

 three times as often as either of the latter ? 



Picus major is called ''Spotted Woodpecker" instead of 

 " G7-eai Spotted Woodpecker" — the omission of the first di- 

 stinguishing epithet not having the sanction of any British 

 author. The name "Yellow-billed Cuckoo" in the same way 

 is liable to cause mistakes, unless the word "American" be 

 inserted, and its omission also is not warranted by the example 

 of any former writer. 



We are left without any information as to the authorities for 

 the names " Vanellus melanogaste?'," " Himantopus melanopterus" 

 and " Phalaropus platyrhynchus." 



The " Esquimaux Curlew," one would suppose, should, from 

 its name, be marked as a straggler from America rather than from 

 Europe, — a supposition strengthened when it is found that only 

 two instances of its occurrence in the Old World have hitherto 

 been recorded. The " Yellow-shanked [!] Sandpiper" merits 

 exactly the same sort of remark. On the other hand, " f Steller's 

 Western Duck " should rather be considered Asiatic. It is known 

 to breed in Siberia, and not in America. Again, the "* Great 

 Auk " was certainly as much a British bird as ever it was a 

 European one. Lastly, the name " White-headed Petrel " is 

 a misnomer as applied to KuhFs Procellaria heesitata, and 

 properly belongs to an entirely different species. The correct 

 English name for this bird is " The Capped Petrel," given to it 

 by Mr. Alfred Newton, who acted as accoucheur on its first in- 

 troduction into the British fauna (see ' Zoologist,^ p. 3693), and 

 afterwards adopted by Mr. Yarrell. 



These and such -like criticisms may seem somewhat out of 

 place in a Magazine which (as we are informed by the gentleman 

 who is employed to answer the Naturalists' queries in the 'Field' 



