Handbuch der System atischen Ornithologie 33 



the law of priority. This will be received with great satis- 

 faction by a great many scientists and perhaps all amateurs. 

 The Reviewer thinks differently on the subject. He believes 

 that the law^ of priority should be rigidly enforced. The time 

 will come, and is nigh at hand, when most of the disputed 

 cases will be settled. It is not honorable to take away from 

 some man the right and honor of having coined a name, 

 though it may cause its a good deal of inconvenience to find 

 out to whom that first right belongs. Because men have 

 blundered in the past, or have been careless, is no reason 

 why we should not right things and give honor to whom 

 honor is due. 



Dr. Reichenow also comes out against Trinomialism, espe- 

 cially in regard to geographic variations. Undoubtedly sins 

 along this line have been too frequent, l)ut the reason is 

 simply because many geographical variations have been named 

 that deserved no name whatever; not that the differences 

 do not exist, but the utility • of name-giving ceases in such 

 cases, e. g., our Song Sparrows. This fact is pointed out in the 

 great work, ' ' The Macrolepidoptera of the World, ' ' and what 

 holds true in regard to butterfiies, where the differences are 

 much less conspicuous than in birds, is true in a far greater 

 sense in regard to birds. Outside of these geographical varia- 

 tions. Dr. Reichenow is, of course, a trinomialist. The rela- 

 tion of a geographical variation to its main species, however, 

 must find some kind of expression, and, if not trinomials, what 

 then ? Any other way would be far more cumbersome ! The 

 rest of the general remarks are of minor importance. 



The Ratitae are divided into four orders and five families, 

 and, of course, include the Ostriches, Rheas, Emus, Casso- 

 waries and the Apteryges. 



The Natatores include the Penguins and Divers (families 

 Alcidae, Colymbidae), the Longipennes (Albatrosses, Fulmars, 

 Petrels, Shearwaters, Gulls, Terns), all the Steganopodes, and 

 all the Lamellirostres, five orders and fourteen families and 

 ten subfamilies. While we do not expect to have all of the 

 American birds treated as stated in the preface of the work, 

 we note the following: In the enumeration of the Alcidae 



