Recent Litcratin 



193 



and the third has been most used. I adopt the first, on the ground tiiat in 

 accepting a trinominal nomenclature as a necessary evil an ornitiiolog^i>t 

 has a perfect right to dictate the terms on which lie accepts it. The only 

 way to prevent the indefinite use of trinomials is to make them tempo- 

 rary !" Such vagaries are beyond criticism. 



Mr. Seebohm's classification, as regards his subfamilies and genera, is 

 simply unique — emphatically Seebohmian. He tells us that one of liis 

 objects in writing a book on Limicoline birds was to correct what ap- 

 peared to him "to be errors in their classification," and to help clear up 

 and set in order the 'chaos' of the present phase of the subject, consequent 

 upon passing from "the artificial system of the last century to the natural 

 system, which may possibly be discovered in the next." A glance at his 

 'Systematic Index and Diagnoses' (pp. xv-xxviii) is suflicient to show that 

 a more arbitrary or 'artificial' system would be hard to find. The absence 

 or presence of a membrane connecting the base of the toes, or the situation 

 of the nostril in the basal fourth of the bill or beyond it, determine alike 

 the composition of his 'subfamilies' and the relationship of his genera, — 

 characters of, at best, exceedingly slight importance, and variable in even 

 strictly congeneric species, otherwise most closely allied. Such super- 

 ficial characters being allowed to outweigh others of much greater im- 

 portance, including those more or less affecting the general structure ami 

 habits of the species, it is not surprising that Hcematopns is placed in his 

 subfamily 'Totaninie,' and Strepsihis in his subfamilv Scolopacinjc, next 

 to Tringa. As consistency is not one of Mr. Seeboiim"s leading char- 

 acteristics, it is quite natural to read, in the face of this arrangement, "The 

 Turnstones are so nearly allied to the Plovers that it is doubtful whether 

 they ought to be separated from them" (p. 407). We find the Turnstones, 

 however, separated from the Plovers, in Mr. Seebohm's book, by all of 

 the strictlyTotanineforms ! The genera Macror/iajnp/iusixnd Microfiilatna 

 are included in his 'genus' Ereunetes ! 



A large part of the text is devoted to the geographical distribution of the 

 species and higher groups, and to speculation as to their ancestral history 

 and genetic relations. Many of his hypotheses are probable, though 

 resting not unfrequently on a very airy groundwork. Mr. Seebohm evi- 

 dently has not made himself thoroughly familiar with all that has bee^ 

 written by even the later and most trustworthy authorities on some of the 

 points he treats with great positiveness, and did space permit it would be 

 easy to give numerous instances of oversight or carelessness. The 

 A. O. U. Check-List of North American Birds is cited as "Coues &; Co. 

 Check-List N. Amer. Birds," — with just what intent is not obvious. 



Mr. Seebohm's material for the basis of his work seems to have been 

 extensive and of excellent quality, he having purchased for the purpose 

 the well-known Harting, Shelley, and Swinhoe collections, and having 

 had access to the resources of the British Museum. He recognizes 192 

 species and 40 subspecies, which he arranges in 19 genera and 3 sub- 

 families. Despite what we have felt called upon to say in criticism of the 

 descriptive portion of the work, the author has brought together a vast 



