HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS 85 



I would that the expression of it might do you a 

 kindness, but I have sad misgivings. You are a 

 marked bird they have given you a bad name, 

 and the proverb tells you the fatal consequence." 



The nomenclature of the various species described 

 in the volumes formed rather a striking feature at 

 the head of each article. Not only were the scien- 

 tific Latin names in each case given, but the local 

 or dialectical appellations were, as far as could be 

 ascertained, also added. In the editions subsequent 

 to the first the ancient British equivalents were also 

 inserted, though, it must be confessed, many of 

 these were not a little difficult to attribute and 

 establish with any degree of certitude. The nomen- 

 clature of our native birds was a subject that always 

 had a great interest for the author. For the old 

 traditional English names of our common birds he 

 had a remarkable affection. In one sense, he seemed 

 almost as fond of these as he was of the birds 

 themselves ; in this, as in so many other ways, he 

 was most rigidly conservative. " One is often led 

 to wonder/' he said, when writing about the common 

 Wagtail, "and doubtless the same remark would 

 apply to other lands, how the most trivial names 

 of antiquity keep their place in the vocabulary of 

 the country, while modern inventions last but for 

 the day or for the hour, and are then consigned 

 for ever to the ' tombs of all the Capulets.' We 

 may soon be lost in speculation as to the time when 

 each of such old names were first assigned, and 

 who it was that gave it, what combination of cir- 



