B. 0. U. List of British Birds. 359 



M^itli that of the ' Hand-list'; but in thirteen cases — an un- 

 lucky number — priority has been ignored, and names formerly 

 in use by European ornithologists have been preserved as 

 " nomina conservanda." There is no explanation why just 

 these thirteen names were selected. Had they not been pre- 

 served there would have been general agi-eementj or else the 

 committee might have gone their own way and not altered any 

 of the old, beloved, time-honoured names, and surely many 

 of our friends would, have welcomed their decision. Why, 

 however, in one case "startling changes" (though mostly 

 already familiar through the ' Hand-list ') were adopted, in 

 others not, is not explained. The thirteen names must have 

 been chosen by personal taste, or by majority in the com- 

 mittee, neither of which can be convincing. 



Let us take some instances : — The old-established name 

 Emberiza miliaria has been rejected in favour of E. calandra, 

 Motacilla jiava horealis becomes thunbergi, the White-throat 

 becomes Sylvia communis, the Garden-Warbler S. simplex, 

 Saxicola becomes QLaanthe, while Suxicola is shifted over 

 to the Chats. The names Anthus spinoletta rubescens and 

 Aquila fusca have been newly introduced for the American 

 Water-Pipit and the Great Spotted Eagle. The Woodchat 

 has, after the many fluctuations in its nomenclature (e/. 

 Hand-list B. B. p. vi), been called Lanius senator. Most 

 surprising of all : the most popular bird in the land, the 

 most glorious songster of all Europe, our Nightingale, has 

 been called by the awful name megarhyncha, wbile the time- 

 honoured luscinia has been shifted to the " Sprosser.'^ All 

 this is, of course, quite correct, according to the " Rules " ; 

 but if these and many other changes could be endured, why 

 should, then, agreement with other lists be sacrificed for 

 the sake of thirteen "nomina conservanda"? 



Why, then, should Astur palumbarius not become A. gen- 

 tilis, why should Tetanus fuscus not be maculatus, why was 

 Sylvia hortensis not used for the bird to which the name 

 had originally been given, why should the wrong name 

 titys be preserved for the Black Bedstart, why fammea be 



