380 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



Baron Snouckaert van Schauburgli's 'Aves Neerlandicse/ 

 which we hope to be able to notice in our next number. 



Dr. Van Oort's memoir contains a list of all the known 

 birds o£ Holland, 335 in number according to his reckoning, 

 with remarks, especially on those represented in the Leyden 

 Museum. Schlegel, who ruled that Museum so long and so 

 worthily, adhered stedtastly to the old-fashioned plan of 

 having all the specimens mounted. The natural con- 

 sequence was that the shelves became crowded with a 

 large series of birds, which it was impossible for the 

 Ornithologist of the present age to use. It has been left 

 to his successors at Leyden to alter this inconvenient plan, 

 and, if we understand rightly, Dr. Van Oort with the help 

 of many friends is now hard at work on a " collection of 

 indigenous birds " for purposes of comparison. 



We must not forget to mention that the Leyden Museum 

 has lately received a very valuable addition by the bequest 

 to it of the well-known collection of native birds of the late 

 Baron van Wickevoort Crommeliu. 



Following the recent inconvenient innovation. Dr. Van 

 Oort commences his List of Netherland Birds at the 

 bottom. After the name of each species he gives the 

 number of specimens of it in the Leyden Museum, and 

 particiilarizes special examples w^orthy of notice. He also 

 gives the pojjular names in the language of Holland, which 

 are more different from the ordinary English vernacular 

 appellations than we should have expected. As regards 

 nomenclature he is not a full-blown trinomialist, except in 

 special cases, such as the Wagtails and Tits ; but he allows 

 "homonyms," which are ugly, especially when the same name 

 is repeated three times over. He has also adopted the 

 perverse practice of not altei'ing the termination of a specific 

 term when the genus is changed — hence such barbarities as 

 Porzana parvus, Porzana pusillus, and Totanus maculata. 

 There is not, so far as we know, any canon of the Inter- 

 national (or any other) Code Avhich sanctions this obvious 

 violation of the Laws of grammar — laws which, to our 

 minds, are of fur greater importance than those of Priority. 



