Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 3S5 



Querquedula crecca, and because we do not recognize Cygnus 

 imniictabilis as a distinct species he counts this also as a 

 change of name ! 



From what is said at the bottom of page 116 and the top 

 of p. 117 it might be inferred — and^ indeed, no doubt will be 

 by the ignorant— that we have had in England up to the 

 advent of our 'Hand-List' a uniform "set of scientific 

 names for our birds based on the Stricklandian Code." That 

 this is not so is, of course, notorious. We have given a few 

 examples in our Introduction to show that even the authors 

 of the B. O. U. List departed in their own separate works 

 from that List ! Need we labour the point further ? And, 

 are we ever to remain so insular as to imagine that 

 British Ornithologists are the only ornithologists in the 

 world, and that the nomenclature of British birds concerns 

 us alone ? 



Finally, as the Stricklandian Code has not been adopted by 

 any International body of Zoologists, is it worth while for 

 a small group to continue to uphold it and thus delay 

 the advent of the uniformity which Dr. Sclater himself 

 desires? What does it matter to science if "journalists" 

 and '' occasional writers '' " recognize their old favourites 

 disguised under their new names " or not ? How many of 

 them now recognize their old favourites disguised under 

 their many old Latin names ? What is our convenience 

 compared with the progress of science ? And, to argue 

 the matter from the narrowest and most selfish point of 

 view : Is the convenience of the individual best served by a 

 uniform system, even if that involves some change in the 

 names to which he is accustomed, or by a number of 

 systems or no systems, both of which alternatives involve 

 the use of a number of different names for the same 

 species ? 



As members of the B. O. U. we are proud of its past 

 glories and the notable achievements of its life-long Editor, 

 but we claim to share in the spirit of progress which inspired 

 Strickland, and are confident that the world-wide advance of 



