68 Occasional Notes. 



Natal, seems to me extraordinary. Unfortunately tlie few 

 records we have as yet of ringed Swallows recovered during 

 migration do not afford a clue to the routes taken, and it 

 seems to me unreasonable to suppose that our birds proceed 

 southwards down the east side of Africa as migld be inferred 

 from this Natal record. 



It is, indeed, quite impossible to theorize on a single 

 recovery of this kind, and we must be content at present 

 with the bare fact — perhaps the most startling fact that the 

 ringing of birds has as yet produced. 



We are most thankful to Mr. Ruddock for reporting this 

 extremely interesting recovery, and we hope that the details 

 of it will become widely known in South Africa and thus 

 produce further results. H. F. Witherby. 



8. The following circular has been issued by Dr. Hartert 

 of the Tring Museum in England. The subject is a difficult 

 one, and without entering into the merits of the case we 

 hope an International C-ommittee will be formed to deal with 

 the subject once and for all. 



A Plea for Priority. 



For some thirty years or more workers in all branches of 

 Zoology have striven to reduce to order the chaos which has 

 reigned in zoological nomenclature. The International 

 Zoological Congresses have taken the matter in hand and 

 have elected commissions to regulate nomenclature on the 

 basis of the accepted International Rules of zoological nomen- 

 clature, and to draw up official lists of irreproachable names 

 to be approved of by the congresses ; in nearly all branches 

 of systematic zoology the oldest correct names liave taken the 

 place of those that continually changed according to the 

 personal tastes and prejudices of various authors. Uniformity 

 and stability in nomenclature was thus gradually being- 

 realised everywhere ; at last we had international and gene- 

 rally-accepted strict rules, so that final stability and consent 

 were in sight. 



