130 BRITISH BIRDS. 



British friends are horrified, because they are, in opposition 

 to the ancient Gauls whom Csesar described as " rerum 

 novarum cupidi," somewhat too conservative, at any rate 

 in matters of nomenclature. Let us see why this change 

 of a name has been made. Holandre described the bird 

 distinctly in 1825 {Annuaire de la Moselle, p. 60) as 

 T Urdus aureus, while Pallas' name appeared in the 

 Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., I, p. 449, a work which was not 

 issued before 1827, although most examples bear on the 

 title-page the date 1811, and some writers quote it as 

 1831, a date which is found on the title-page of some 

 copies. The correct date should be 1827 (see V'og. pal. 

 Fauna, I, p. 277, footnote, and K. E. v. Baer, Berichte iiber die 

 Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., 1831, pp. 16, 22, 23). Therefore the 

 name aureus appeared before that of varius, and this bird, 

 being a very closely allied sub-species of T. dauma, the 

 correct name is T. dauma aureus. But the question now 

 arises : will British Ornithologists allow their attachment 

 to old friends to be their guiding rule in nomenclature, 

 instead of the laws and rules adopted by Zoologists 

 generally ? Will they follow in the footsteps of the 

 Ornithologists of a generation ago, who did what I do 

 now — i.e., accept the name aureus instead of varius, 

 as Newton, Tweeddale, Dresser, Seebohm, Sharpe and 

 others accepted varius instead of Whitei, which was 

 formerly the " familiar " name used by Eyton, Gould, 

 Blasius, Yarrell, Temminck, Schlegel, Gray, Naumann 

 and others, or will they consider their present convenience 

 instead of that of future generations and continue to call 

 the bird Turdus varius ? Let us wait and see ! 



The Proper Najvie of the Song-Thrush and Red- 

 wing. 



Linnaeus {Syst. Nat. Ed., X, 1758, p. 169) described the 

 Redwing under the name of Turdus musicus. The 

 diagnosis " alis subtus ferrugineis, linea superc. alhicante " 

 is clearly that of the Redwing. Therefore the Redwing 

 should be called Turdus musicus. The name Turdus 



