A LIST OF BRITISH BIRD8. 



INTRODUCTION. 



I. OF THK USES OF THE PRESENT LlST. 



THE uses of a Catalogue such as the following are manifold. The 

 names can be cut out and used as labels ; it shows at a glance what 

 birds may rightly be considered British, their proper scientific desig- 

 nation, and to a certain extent their affinities ; it can be compared 

 with similar lists of the birds of other countries ; and it can con- 

 veniently be marked as an index to a collection either of skins or eggs, 

 or to show species desired in exchange, or to record the occurrence or 

 nesting of birds in particular localities. 



II. OF THE LIMITS OF THE BRITISH AVI-FAUNA. 



The present list is meant to comprise those birds only which have 

 at least once, beyond doubt, occurred in a truly wild state within the 

 area of the British Isles. No other definition of a British bird is 

 strictly tenable. Ornithological literature teems with records of alien 

 species, the validity of whose occurrence may possibly have been over- 

 looked ; but here it is advisable not to recognize any authority which 

 can be impugned, to follow, as far as may be, in the steps of 

 Professor Newton in his current revision of the new edition of 

 YarrelTs standard ' History of British Birds.' 



III. OF NOMENCLATURE. 



In view of the importance of a scientifically accurate use of names, 

 the British Association, in 1842, appointed a Committee of some of 

 the most eminent biologists of the day "to consider the rules by 

 which the nomenclature of zoology might be established on a uniform 

 and permanent basis." In an elaborate explanatory report they 

 enunciated fourteen principles, the majority of which may well be 

 reprinted here verbatim. : 



" 1. The name originally given by the founder of a group or the 

 describer of a species should be permanently retained, to the exclusion 

 of all subsequent synonyms (with the exceptions about to be noticed). 



