THE TEENATE KINGFISHER 



173 



and a line round the back of the head 

 are blackish green. 



THE genus Tanysfptera is well illus- 

 trated by the well-known though some- 

 what scarce TEENATE KINGFISHEK, a 

 bird which may be easily recognised by 

 the peculiar form of the tail. The generic 

 name is of Greek origin, and signifies 

 Long-winged, and is rather longer than 

 needful, the simpler form of the word 

 being Tanyptera, or more properly Tany- 

 pteryx. But when once a systematic 

 naturalist begins to indulge in so-called 

 classical nomenclature, he seems to be 

 irresistibly attracted by the words in 

 proportion to their length and abstruse- 

 ness. 



Thus it happens that the pages of 

 our scientific works are disfigured by 

 vast quantities of cacophonic combina- 

 tions of syllables, many of them entirely 

 needless, and the greater number of such 

 barbarous construction, that neither 

 Koman nor Greek would acknowledge 

 them as belonging to his own language. 

 The general common sense of those 

 who love Nature for her own sake, and 

 not for the sake of the harsh vocabulary 

 which has been appended to science, has 

 now begun to revolt against the cumber- 

 some phraseology which has been so 

 needlessly employed, and which serves in 

 many cases to deter real lovers and ob- 

 servers of Nature from entering into the 

 details of science at the cost o so great 

 a task to the memory as is now needed 

 to gain the character of a scientific man. 

 The unnecessary multiplication of 

 genera has now come to such a pitch, 

 that, according to a well-known writer on 

 this subject, "the study of ornithology 

 (we may say zoology) is merging into a 

 study of barbarous nomenclature ; we 

 shall soon have a genus for every species ; 

 and this is called science ! " 



The Ternate Kingfisher is one of 

 those species which are decorated with 

 richly coloured plumage, and is a truly 

 handsome and striking bird. The head 

 is of a bright ultramarine blue, and the 

 upper parts of the body are of a deeper 

 tint of the same colour, being of a 

 "Prussian" blue, that is almost black 

 in its intensity. The wing-coverts are 

 of the same ultramarine as the head, as 

 are also the edges of the quill feathers 



TEKN AT K. KiiN G FISH E It. Tanysiptera Deo. 



