UP-TO-DATE SPECIES MAKING 77 



necessary to offer them a quid pro quo. The only quid 

 that suggests itself to me is to invite each of them to 

 name a bird after himself. Let the name of every known 

 species (I mean proper and indisputable species) be put in 

 a hat and let each member draw one out. The bird he 

 draws will henceforth be called after him. If any birds 

 are left undrawn after every man has shed his name on 

 one species, the remainder could be balloted for, and 

 thus some lucky dogs would be able to give their name 

 to two birds. When this is once done, it should be made 

 an offence punishable with death to change the specific 

 name of any feathered thing. Newly discovered birds 

 and beasts could, as heretofore, be named after the happy 

 discoverer. This proposal will, if adopted, cure the evil. 

 My point is that it does not matter a jot what a bird be 

 called ; the important thing is to give it a fixed and 

 immutable name, so that we poor field naturalists shall 

 know where we are. 



