B. 0. U. List of British Birds. 363 



The case of Loxia pytyopsittacus, which the committee 

 does not consider distinct, has not been correctly stated. It 

 not only differs from L. curvirostra in the ^' enlarged size o£ 

 the bill/' but it is a larger bird altogether and exceeds the 

 Common Crossbill in all dimensious. It occurs only in 

 some parts of the range of the latter. 



In the quotatious of the original descriptions of species 

 there is a serious fault, viz., instead o£ quoting the original 

 locality as given by the author, only a restricted " terra 

 typica," often not mentioned in the description, is quoted. 

 For instance, p. 169 : — 



" Anas querquedula Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 126 : 

 Sweden." Linnteus, hovrever, says : '' Habitat in Europse 

 aquis dulcibus.^' Since the importance of a restricted 

 typical locality has become evident, in consequence of the 

 study of local races, often different in various parts of 

 Europe, ornithologists have begun to fix a restricted place, 

 where the author gave only a general idea. Therefore, in 

 the case of Linnean species, Sweden has been fixed as the re- 

 stricted " terra ty pica," as Linnaeus quoted the ' Fauna Suecica ' 

 and took his diagnosis from the fuller description in that 

 work ; therefore the only correct quotation is as follows : — 

 Anas Querquedula Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. x, i. p. 126 

 (1758 — "Europa.^' Restricted typical locality Sweden!). 

 It is also desirable to quote the original spelling rigidly 

 exact, including capitals ; it becomes then evident, whether 

 the name was used as a substantive or an adjective, which 

 influences the eventual stability or altering of the gender. 

 Tlie A. O. U. Check-list and Mr. Mathews in his books 

 have unfortunately adopted the shorter, but inexact method, 

 while the 'Hand-list of British Birds' has employed the 

 more exact one. 



The distribution of the species in the ' List of British 

 Birds ' has been most carefully compiled, both that within 

 the British Isles as well that abroad. As reference has 

 frequently been made to forms occurring outside the British 

 Isles, these statements are bound to vary according to the 



o « o 



«w i> <v 



