134 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



hartingi, R. cinctus, R. seebohmi, R. chalcopterus, R. albo- 

 fasciatus ; Galactochrysea liberice, G. emini ; HtBmatopus durn- 

 fordi; Defilippia crassirostris aud D. leucoptera. 



Ornithologists should be, and are, most thankful to 

 Dr. Sharpe for the care he has bestowed upon this volume, in 

 which the compilation of the multitude of synonyms and the 

 registry of the numerous specimens in proper order must 

 have cost him many weeks of dreary labour. We are sure, 

 however, that he will allow us to state our candid opinion 

 that the generic divisions employed are far too many, and 

 that the numerous changes introduced into nomenclature 

 might have been in many cases avoided. 



As regards the first point : genera, as we all know, do not 

 exist in nature, and it is a mere matter of convenience how 

 large or how small we make them. Dr. Sharpe divides his 

 255 species of Limicolse into 102 genera, i. e. about 2\ 

 species to each genus. It is a great burden to the memory 

 to carry in one's mind so many extra names, and in our opinion 

 it would have been a much better plan to employ about half 

 these generic terms as subgenera, affixing them at the head 

 of the various sections into which the genus is divided. We 

 might thus say in ordinary parlance Glareola Isabella and 

 Glareola ocularis, stating, when there is a necessity for so 

 doing, that the former belongs to the subgenus Stiltia, and 

 the latter to the subgenus Galactochrysea. 



As regards the changes in nomenclature proposed by 

 Dr. Sharpe, vre find on going through the 48 species of 

 Limicolse in the B. O. U. List we should have to alter the 

 names of just half of them to conform to the British Museum 

 Catalogue. We do not believe that such a course would meet 

 with general acquiescence, and we do not think of adopting it 

 under any circumstances. In many cases the older names 

 taken up of late years on the alleged ground of priority are 

 so uncertain that it is a mere matter of opinion whether 

 they are applicable to one species or another. No change 

 should be made in such cases as these. 



