CHIFFCHAFF. 435 
PHYLLOSCOPUS RUFUS*. 
CHIFFCHAFF. 
(PLatE 10.) 
Sylvia hippolais (Linn.), apud Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 87 (1787). 
Motacilla rufa et lotharingica, Linn. fide Bechst. Naturg. Deutsch. iv. p. 682 (1795). 
Sylvia rufa, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 188 (1802); et auctorum plurimorum— 
Wolf, Temminck, Bote, Naumann, (Bonaparte), (Schlegel), (Deglund § Gerbe), 
(Keyserling § Blasius), Gray, (Saunders), (Fritsch), Hewitson, (Salvadori), 
(Gould), (Heuglin), (Lindermayer), (Blyth), (Tristram), Cabanis), (Loche), (Do- 
derlem), (Howard Saunders), (Shelley), (Godman), (Rennie), (Eyton), ( Giebel), 
§¢., Fe. 
Motacilla hippolais, Zinn. apud Turton, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 587 (1806). 
Ficedula rufa (Bechst.), Koch, Syst. baier. Zool. i. p. 160 (1816). 
Sylvia collybita, Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xi. p. 235 (1817). 
Trochilus minor, Forst. Syn. Cat. p. 54 (1817). 
Sylvia abietina, Miss. K. Vet.--Ak. Handl. 1819, p. 115. 
Regulus hippolais (Linn.), apud Fleming, Brit. An. p. 72 (1828). 
Phylloscopus rufus (Bechst.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 94 (1829). 
Phyllopneuste sylvestris, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 431 (1831), 
Phyllopneuste solitaria, Brehm, Vig. Deutschl. p. 432 (1831). 
Phyllopneuste pinetorum, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 432 (1831). ’ 
Phyllopneuste rufa (Bechst.), Brehm, Voy. Deutschl. p. 433 (1831). 
Trochilus rufa (Bechst.), Rennie, Field Nat. i. p. 52 (1833). 
Sylvia loquax, Herbert, White's N. H. of Selb. p. 55, note (1833). 
Sylvicola rufa (Bechst.), Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 14 (1836). 
Sylvia brevirostris, Strickl. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1836, p. 98. 
Phyllopneuste hippolais (Zinn), apud Macgill. Br. B. ii. p. 879 (1839). 
Phyllopneuste brevirostris (Strichl.), Bonap. Consp. i. p. 289 (1850). 
Phylloscopus habessinicus, Blanf. Ann. Nat. Hist. 1869, p. 329. 
* The attempt to ignore the well-known name which Bechstein gave to the Chiffchaff 
more than eighty years ago, and which has been in almost universal use ever since, and 
to substitute for it an obscure name absolutely unknown, except to the ornithological 
bookworms, is an example of red tape and pedantry which is almost inconceivable. The 
reason alleged for this mischievous change is that, according to the Stricklandian code, the 
name of Phylluscopus rufus cannot be applied to the Chiffchaff because Boddaert had fore- 
stalled Bechstein by calling the Whitethroat Motacilla rufa. To this may be replied :—lIst, 
Boddaert did not intend to apply this name to the Whitethroat ; 2nd, if he did by accident 
so apply it, the Chiffchaff not belonging to the same genus as the Whitethroat (though 
_Boddaert may have thought it did), its right to bear the name cannot be affected under 
the rules by any name previously applied to any bird belonging to a different genus; 3rd, 
if the rules can be so twisted as to warrant the change, then they are more honoured in 
the breach than in the observance, 
9F2 
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