66 Reviews. y^^^ 



July 



The classification adopted is that of Dr. Sharpe in the " Hand- 

 hst of Birds," and used by Mr. Mathews in his three hsts, and in 

 the R.A.O.U. '-Official Check-list." The order of the families, 

 however, is reversed in the B.O.U. list, which begins with the 

 Crow family. 



In nomenclature, the tenth edition of Linnaeus's " Systema 

 Naturae " (1758) is recognized as the foundation instead of the 

 twelfth edition (1766) which was previously used. This has caused 

 many changes of names. To preserve some well-known names, 

 though many have been changed, thirteen names [nomina con- 

 servanda) have been exempted from the operation of the law of 

 priority. As so many changes were made, and so few exceptions 

 were allowed, it almost seems a pity that thirteen more changes 

 were not made at a time when changes were expected. 



Trinomials are used for all races (sub-species) except the typical 

 race. This is a departure from the practice of the A.O.U. 

 "Check-list," Mathews' 1913 list of Australian birds, and "A 

 Hand-fist of British Birds," by Hartert and others. Apparently 

 the reason for this is to avoid the repetition, which is said by 

 some to be cumbersome. But is Coccothraustes coccothrausies 

 coccothraustes more cumbersome than Nucifraga caryocatactes 

 macrorhynchus, the second trinomial in the book, especially when 

 the former is written in the usual form, C. c. coccothraustes? 

 Again, is Acanthis linaria linaria {Acanthis I. linaria) more cum- 

 bersome than Acanthis linaria holboelli ? At least, the taut- 

 onymous name is more easily remembered and written. Further, 

 a scientific worker on anatomy, plumage phases, &c., is debarred, 

 under the B.O.U. practice of using trinomials, from referring to a 

 species which has been divided into races. He can refer to an 

 order, a sub-order, a family, a sub-family, a genus, and a sub- 

 species, but not to a species. That may easily be a disadvantage. 

 Again, the use of the binomial for a sub-species causes confusion. 

 Acanthis linaria refers only to the typical race, while, apparently, 

 Fringilla montifringilla, on the previous page, refers to a species — 

 one cannot say from the B.O.U. fist, for there may be races of the 

 latter not recorded from Britain. Nomenclature is not an end, 

 but a means to further study. This change in a custom of nomen- 

 clature win apparently not assist further study. 



The same objection to tautonymous names was made previously. 

 They were not used in the first edition. That refusal is re- 

 sponsible for many of the changes in the second edition, where 

 Carduelis carduelis. Pica pica, and many other repetitions, have to 

 be used, even though they may appear clumsy and cumbersome. 

 Scientific ornithology is not concerned with what is easy, cumber- 

 some, or inappropriate, but with exact uniformity of name, and 

 that seems possible only by a strict adherence to the International 

 Code. 



" One-letterism " is responsible for some small inconsistency in 

 an otherwise well-executed piece of work. Tyto is disallowed 

 because of a prior Tyta, but Galerida, though stated to be a 



