Vol. XXII "I » 7 . , j. T 



igo5 J Notes and News. ^n 



so persistently and methodically ignore the American vernacular names 

 of American birds, when they have occasion to refer to them. It is a gen- 

 eral habit of long-standing, so that in' citing the present instance there 

 is no intention of criticising the ' Agricultural Magazine,' but merely to 

 call attention to a general practice, not only in reference to birds but to 

 other American animals, for which we have never been able to find a 

 reasonable explanation. We might probably fill pages with lists of 

 names like the case here cited. Our birds have standard vernacular 

 names by which they are known to all American bird students, and being 

 the book names of the birds employed by all American writers they can- 

 not be unknown to intelligent bird students abroad. Where then is the 

 excuse for using a stilted translation, as in the case of the "White-eve- 

 browed Song-Sparrow," of its Latin specific designation in place of its 

 simple and far more characteristic American name of ' White-crowned 

 Sparrow?' To make matters worse, the species is not even a 'Song- 

 Sparrow,' which is a generic designation applied universally in America 

 to a large group of wholly different birds, to which the White-crowned 

 Sparrow is not closely related. It is the custom of American writers, 

 when referring to the birds of other English speaking countries, to 

 employ the names current in the countries where the birds live, and we 

 do not see why it is not a good method for our English friends to follow 

 when speaking of American birds. If they could bring themselves to do 

 this their references to American birds would often be not only more 

 intelligible but save some annoyance to American readers. 



The Twenty-third Annual Congress of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union will be held at the American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York City, beginning 6n the evening of Monday, November 13, 

 1905. The evening session will be for the election of officers and mem- 

 bers, and for the transaction of routine business. Tuesday and' the follow- 

 ing days the sessions will be for the presentation and discussion of 

 scientific papers, and will be open to the public. Members intending 

 to present communications are requested to forward the titles of their 

 papers to the Secretary, Mr. John H. Sage, Portland, Conn., so as to 

 reach him not later than November 10. 



