Recent Ornithological Publications. 483 



5. American. 



All the ornithological papers of Dr. Coues on which we had 

 hitherto set our eyes had been composed with such elaborate 

 care, that when we heard of his " Monograph of the Alcida" we 

 fully expected to find the subject treated in the same so-called 

 "exhaustive" manner. It was therefore not without great regret 

 that, on examination of this his last Essay, we found it showing 

 evident marks of haste and consequently incompleteness. The 

 author does us the honour (for honour it is laudari a laudato) to 

 speak highly of a certain article which formerly appeared in this 

 Journal, and accordingly we feel all the more vexed that we 

 cannot as fully return the compliment on the present occasion. 

 Dr. Coues will, however, bear in mind, we trust, that it is the very 

 excellence of his former labours which has led us to expect more 

 from him than we should from an ordinary writer. He has 

 hitherto set such an admirable example of diligence, perspicuity 

 and accuracy, that we now feel the falling off of these qualities 

 the more. He divides the family Alcidce into the three subfamilies 

 AlcincB, Phaleridince,Siiid t/nHte (lege C7nm<p), containing altogether 

 thirteen genera, of which, on the principle, we suppose, of c'est 

 les extremes qui s'attouchent, Alca stands first and Lomvia last. 

 It has long been a question what the type of the genus Alca 

 was ; and our author declares in favour of A. impennis, for some 

 recondite reason which we are not able to ajjpreciate. A little 

 investigation will show that Linnaeus in naming his genus Alca 

 merely Latinized the word " Alk/^ which is common to most 

 northern tongues, his own among them, and is invariably applied, 

 as of course be was well aware, to A. tarda. On the princi])le 

 which Mr. Gurney has lately promulgated in these pages [supra 

 p. 259), a principle which we maintain to be a sound one, it is 

 therefore clear to us that whatever species are to be excluded 

 from the genus Alca, A. tarda must be retained in it, as the one 

 to which the name is especially api)licable. "Wliat other changes 

 in nomenclature may thus be rendered necessary must be deter- 

 mined by those who are of opinion that the two species we have 

 mentioned cannot be kept harmoniously in the same genus. But 

 how comes it that the suggested name Gyralca has been over- 



