July 1890.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



109 



none arc tlie color, size or shape of the Winj?, 

 of the Bay Win<^ Bunting. Vesper Sparrow is 

 not new. It is mentioned by Studer in 1878. 

 You may put us down with both feet on the 

 old name. [Tliis is the heaviest vote against 

 Bay AVino- Bunting. — Ed.] 



We would like a photograph of the man that 

 coined " Diekcissel," as we think it would be 

 an attractive feature for the Chicago Fair in 

 '!)3. 

 MnftHharl,-.-PurkerJ)niftJ>,PaMl(linf/ Co., Ohio. 



4 



m^^i^. 



:|fM^|^Pt 



YELLOW-WINGED SPARROW. 



A COMMUNICATION TO r,E CONSinKUED. 



Editor of O. & O.: 



It seems to me that the changes in names 

 made by the "Union" ai-e all good, with per- 

 haps one exception. It has been olijected to 

 the name "Dickcissel" that it is outlandish. 

 The same objection might be made to "Flick- 

 er" ; both these words arc onomatopoetic; 

 and, if Flicker is better than Golden-winged 

 Woodpecker, then Dickcissel is to be i^referred 

 to Black-throated Bunting. The same may be 

 said of the other terms adopted by the A.O.U. 

 Tliey are all improvements on the old names, 

 it a])pears to me, and ought to remain. They 

 are new and like all new words are not as 

 pleasing as those to which we are accustomed. 



There is one change which perhaps it would 

 have been best not to make: lUtteo is rendered 

 by Hawk instead of Buzzard. Falco is trans- 

 lated Falcon; Accipiter means Hawk, and why 

 shoidd not Buteo be Buzzard as Professor 

 Coues has given it? They give us Buteo huteo, 

 European Buzzard. Why then should we not 

 have Buteo horealis rendered Red-tailed Buz- 

 zard? 



There are some changes in names that 

 should be made because they are written in- 

 correctly according to Canon VIII of the 

 Union. Canon VIII says: "Proper names of 

 species and of sub-species or 'varieties' are 

 single words, simple or compound, preferably 

 adjectival or genetival, or taken as such, when 

 practicable agreeing in gender and number, 

 with any generic name with which they are 

 associated in binomial or trinomial nomencla- 

 ture, and written with a small initial letter." 



In spite of this Canon VIII, we have C'occo- 

 thraustes vespertina. Is it not practicable that 

 the specific adjective here agree with Cocco- 

 thraustes a masculine noun? Coccothruvstes 

 is a Greek masculine noun, and by what 

 authority does the Latinized word become 

 feminine? Let the Union correct this solecism 

 and give us Coccothraustes ve.^pertimis. There 

 are other solecisms that could be mentioned 

 but too much of your valuable space has 

 already been taken up. IP. C. A. — Ala. 



BLACK-THROATED BUNTING. 



now WOULD IT DO TO DROP NAMES AND USE 



NUMREIIS? 



Editor of O. & O. : 



We both of us prefer the A. O. U. names to 

 the old ones, the former are as a rule shorter 

 and don't take up so much room on the tags. 

 JI. II. & C. S.B.—N.C. 



"The changing of a common, well-known 

 name of a bird has nothing whatever to do 

 with the Scientiiic Nomenclature or arrange- 

 ment, and is a matter to be governed by a 

 general public opinion. Such an opinion can 

 only be obtained by hearing from all sections 

 of the country." 



