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A Dictionary of English and Folk-Names of British Birds 

 With their History, Meaning and first usage : and the 

 Folk-lore, Weather -lore, Legends, etc., relating to the 

 more familiar species. By H. Kirke Swann. Witherby and 

 Co. 10s. net. 



This book will be welcomed by all those who take an interest 

 in the names, local or otherwise, of our British birds. The 

 author, in his preface, states that he has for the past eighteen 

 years been engaged in its compilation, and he is to be 

 complimented on the result of his laborious research. 



It is to be regretted that throughout the Dictionary 

 reference is given to species, which are known by a double 

 name, under the first letter of the name ; thus " Red-legged 

 Crow " is indexed only under R, and not, as one would 

 expect from common usage, under Crow, Red-legged. The 

 ideal plan would doubtless have been to have entered it 

 under both R and C and to have given cross-references, 

 but possibly this has not been done so as to save adding to 

 the bulk of the book. In any case it would certainly have 

 been more in accordance with general practice in similar 

 works, had reference been made to the substantive rather 

 than to its adjectival or qualifjdng attribute. 



The fact that the alphabetical sequence is continuous 

 throughout the Dictionary with no break between characters 

 is a fault for which it is difficult to assign a reason. Although 

 a key to the contents of each opening is given in the head of 

 every right-hand page, a well marked division would have 

 improved the appearance of the book, and the blank pages 

 bound in at the end, might have been increased in number 

 and distributed very conveniently throughout as breaks. 



In the Bibliography given on pp. ix.-xii., no mention is 

 made of John Ray's Collection of English Words, 1674, a 

 little book on pp. 81-96 of which is given " A Catalogue of 

 English Birds," besides containing other local ornithological 

 names elsewhere in the text. The date of this publication 

 would give it precedence over Willughby's Ornithology of 

 1676 (Latin) or 1678 (English) as giving the " first usage of 

 the accepted names " of several species. Nor is there any 

 reference to Rev. F. 0. Morris's History of British Birds, in 

 the second edition of which (6 vols. 1870) the inclusion of 

 local names of the different species forms a distinctive feature. 



