144 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



In the second article the author takes the opportunity of 

 enumerating various examples of Buteo ferox that have been 

 procured on the Continent of Europe. 



3. ' The Auk.' 



I The Auk. A Quarterly Journal of Ornithology. Vol. xx. Nos. 3 

 & 4, July and October 19():!.] 



Mr. Spencer Trotter begins the July number of our con- 

 temporary with some notes on the birds observed by Peter 

 Kaln, the Swedish botanist, during his travels in the eastern 

 portions of North America between 1748 and 1751. In a 

 paper by Mr. Witmer Stone, on the Generic Names of 

 North-American Owls, the author expresses his regret at 

 having "to work such a revolution in the nomenclature of 

 such well-known birds " as the ' eared ' owls, but he inserts 

 the consoling clause that " if my views are adopted no 

 change will be required in the genera of the ' earless * owls." 

 Mr. Lcverett M. Loomis, in a paper on the Recognition of 

 Geographic Variation in Nomenclature, remarks that "the 

 trick that ornithologists have of giving uew names to familiar 

 birds is an old trick, as old as the trade of ornithology " ; 

 but far more disquieting than the " old trick " is the modern 

 " game of nomenclature/' especially when the players are 

 not agreed upon the meaning of the rules. Respect is, of 

 course, due to the Xllth Supplement to the A. O. U. 

 Check-list (pp. 331-368), which is, like its predecessors, the 

 careful work of an authoritative Committee; moreover, the 

 alterations in it refer chiefly to American species. An ex- 

 ception is Erolia ferruyinea, but that is not such a mouthful 

 as Ancylocheilus arquata for the Curlew-Sandpiper ; but, oh ! 

 cursed spite, that ever this Old- World wader should have 

 wandered to North America to have its name put right ! In 

 the latter part of the List about fifty species, of " questionable 

 antecedents/' are remanded for further inquiry. 



Turning to field-ornithology, Mr. Allen Brooks contributes 

 some interesting notes on the birds observed during fifteen 

 months spent in the Cariboo district of British Columbia 

 (roughly round lat. 52° N.), and among his discoveries were 



