^'''■.^^J"] The R.A.O.U." Check-list: • ig3 



Meanwhile, the tens of thousands of Gould League Bird Lovers 

 are thankful to the Union for the " Official Check-hst." They at 

 least can pursue their desire to study the interesting and varied 

 avifauna of their native or adopted land. — I am, &c., 



J. A. Leach. D.Sc, 



Organizing Inspector of Nature Study, and Hon. Sec. Gould 

 League of Bird Lovers of Victoria. 



Education Department, Melbourne. 

 22nd December, iqij. 



Correspondence. 



FURTHER ON R..\.O.U. " CHECK-I.IST." 



To the Editors of " The Emu." 



Sirs,— My attention has been drawn to the following statement 

 by Captain S. A. White in a letter on this subject appearing 

 in the last issue of your journal: — "Mr. Milligan told us at the 

 session [Launceston session] all about the American ' Check-hst ' 

 falling to pieces through trinomials, or, in his words, ' trinomiats 

 were pulling if to pieees with their own ie>ei<^ht,' and that Mr. 

 Ogilvie-Grant, of England, would not use trinomials." 



I had determined not to pursue the correspondence on this 

 subject any farther, but as the statement quoted is both falla- 

 cious and mischievous, I cannot allow it to pass uncontradicted. 

 In the first place I do not, when speaking or writing, employ 

 confused metaphors of the nature indicated by the italicized words, 

 and, secondly, I had not. at the time of the session, any knowledge 

 of the home working of the American ''Check-list," except in 

 the one particular after appearing. In any event, how could 

 the use of trinomials or binomials jmll a Check-tisl to pieces ! 



I think that Captain White is unconsciously attributing to me 

 the language and opinions of the late Dr. Rowdier Sharpe and 

 Mr. Ogilvie-Grant, as the former appear in the R.A.O.U. 

 " Check-list " report which I read at the session. They are as 

 follows : — " I consider that the burden imposed on zoologists 

 who follow this method [trinomials] for the naming of their 

 specimens will become too heavy, and that the system will fall 

 by its own iveight " (Bowdler Sharpe). " On the whole, I see 

 no useful object in using trimonials ; in ninety cases out of a 

 hundred it does not help one to identify a bird — often the 

 contrary " (W. R. Ogilvie-Grant). 



Or, probably. Captain White is confusing what I was charged to 

 say in support of that portion of the R.A.O.U. "Check-list" report 

 which stated that a recent jM-actical application of the trinomial 

 system to Australian ornithology resulted in raising the number of 

 species and sub-species from 800 to 1,500. The tenor of my 



