1920 J Recent Literature. Oil 



and should be of much interest to other bird students of the district, 

 while it will also furnish a convenient comparative record for those inter- 

 ested in the general study of bird migration. — W. S. 



Nomenclature of the Birds of Bavaria. — In 1916 appeared a list 

 of the birds of Bavaria 1 by C. E. Hellmayr and A. Laubmann, published 

 under the authority of the Ornithological Society of Bavaria. It com- 

 prises the list proper of 326 species and subspecies and a hypothetical list 

 of 14 additional forms, together with a list of the genera with the type 

 species and the method of their determination. 



In the list the species are arranged systematically under the families 

 with a reference to the original place of publication and the type locality. 

 It is interesting in connection with our efforts toward uniformity in nomen- 

 clature to compare this list with that of British birds prepared in 1912 

 by Dr. Hartert and others (for comparison of this with the A. O. U. List 

 and with the subsequent List of British Birds by the B. O. U. Committee. 

 See 'The Auk' 1912, p. 407). We find that there appear to be 

 only thirty cases where the lists differ either in generic or specific names 

 and half of these are due to the lumping of genera in the British 'List' 

 which are usually regarded as distinct, other differences are due to the 

 unfortunate obscurity of the International Code as to whether one name 

 precludes the use of another if it is spelled in a slightly different manner, 

 i. e. the "one letter rule". 



The general concordance of the two lists is certainly very encouraging 

 and it would seem that a nomenclature could soon be drawn up for Europe 

 and North America with a few concessions on either side, that would be 

 universally acceptable. 



One point in the Hellmayr-Laubrrlann List upon which the opinion of 

 the present reviewer is referred to deserves further consideration, namely 

 the fixing of the type of the genus Colymbus Linn, by Gray in 1855. In 

 my remarks (Auk, 1913, p. 458) I did not realize that the edition of Lin- 

 naeus to which he referred was prior to the starting point of zoological 

 nomenclature and we have no right to interpret "Linnaeus 1735" as 

 "Linnaeus 1758." I am therefore of opinion that no type was legitimately 

 selected for the genus until Baird, Brewer and Ridgway cited C. cristatus 

 in the second volume of the 'Water Birds of North America' p. 425 in 

 1884. This reference is given by Hellmayr and Laubmann and is per- 

 fectly correct ahtcdating the action of the A. O. U. Committee in 1886 

 which is given as the first selection of type in the A. O. U. 'Check-List.' 

 The name Colij)>ibus must therefore remain for the Grebes. — W. S. 



1 Nomenclator der Vogel Bayerns. von C. E. Hellmayr und A. Laubmann Im 

 Auftrage der Ornithologischen Gesellschaft in Bayern herausgegeben von C. E. 

 Hellmayr. Munchen May 30, 1916. pp. 1-68. [In German.] 



