6*64 Letters, Extracts, and Notices. 



Sirs, — A few remarks as to the Scottish Ospreys may be of 

 interest to the Members of the B. O. U. : — 



There were none seen at Loch an Eilean in 1903, and none 

 in 1904. Only one came to the only other nesting-site in 

 1904. An Osprey (called a "Buzzard ") was captured — and 

 killed ! — in the Lakeland District of England in the spring 

 migration of 1904*. It seems, therefore, that the Ospi'ey as 

 a British breeding species is approaching extinction, w r hile 

 it does not appear that the Zoological Society's medals have 

 been productive of any permanent good. 



Are the resources of the civilization of this generation 



exhausted ? 



Yours &c, 

 Dunipace House, Larbert, J. A. Harvie-Brown. 



Sept. 1st, 1904. 



Sirs, — I find some difficulty in following the reasoning 

 of the defenders of the trinomial system in nomenclature, 

 as given by the Hon. Walter Rothschild at the recent 

 meeting of the B. O.C. (see Bull. B. O. C. xiv. p. 87). My 

 views about the use of a trinomial are : — By all means let 

 geographical variation be studied, but why designate the 

 birds with a trinomial that does not describe the geogra- 

 phical value ? such as " ernesti," " deUcatula," " kirchho/ji," 

 " insularis" &c. So long as the trinomial has a distinctive 

 geographical descriptive power there can be little " mis- 

 chievous interpretation " of it either in the Museum or in 

 the Field. 



As to the difference of habits in closely allied races, I 

 cannot place so much importance upon the illustration of it 

 in the instance of Erithacus rubecula {ty picas) and E. rubecula 

 m el op hi I us as is attributed to it by Mr. Rothschild. If 

 such a course be adopted, then we may as well distinguish 

 between our Common House-Sparrow of the country and 

 the Common House-Sparrow of the town, or between the 

 human inhabitant of the country and the dw r eller in the 

 slums of a great city. 



* Fide ' The Cairngorm Club Journal,' vol. iv. no. 23, p. 308. 



