NOTES. 341 



ences between British and Continental examples of the Song- 

 Thrush. He pointed out that the non-migratory race breeding 

 in Great Britain and Ireland differed in the warmer, more 

 rufous, colour of the upper surface, especially the rump. 

 These parts are more olive-brown, generally paler, and with 

 a faint greenish tinge, in the birds breeding on the Continent 

 and migrating to the Mediterranean countries in winter. 

 The underside of the British race was often more heavily 

 spotted, and this was especially conspicuous in specimens 

 from the Hebrides, while others from the same islands were 

 in every way similar to English examples. For this reason 

 Dr. Hartert did not, for the present, distinguish more than 

 one British race, which he proposed to call Turdus 

 PHiLOMELOS CLARKEi, in honour of Mr. Eagle Clarke, who had 

 first caljed his attention to the dark coloration of the British 

 race. The difference had also been noticed by other British 

 ornithologists. Dr. Hartert mentioned that the correct 

 name of the Song-Thrush w^as Turdus philomelos, the first 

 description of T. musicus undoubtedly referring to the 

 Redwing ; while the name T. iliacus was not available at all, 

 as in the first instance it referred to three distinct species, 

 viz., the Song-Thrush, Mistle-Thrush, and Redwing. 



While we thoroughly agree with Dr. Hartert in his separation 

 of these races, and applaud his good work, we think it only 

 right to state that we cannot agree with him in abolishing old 

 and well-known names and substituting for them names 

 which are quite unknown to the average ornithologist. Dr. 

 Hartert adheres most strictly to certain rules in order to 

 secure stability in nomenclature, but in many cases, such for 

 instance as the present, these rules act in our opinion in a 

 directly opposite way to that which was intended, in that 

 they disrupt the past. The Song-Thrush has been called 

 " Turdus musicus^'' in countless books and papers, and if we now 

 alter that name surely we show no regard for the past, while 

 to the future ornithologist the innumerable references to this 

 bird under the name of T. musicus will be obscured. With 

 no wish to argue such an intricate question in these pages 

 we can but state our firm conviction that to adhere strictly 

 to a rule in such a case as this amounts to making the rule a 

 fetish. Having no wish to be the blind slave of any rule, 

 we are determined to call the British Song-Thrush Turdus 

 musicus clarkei. 



In part V. of Dr. Hartert's work {Die Vdg. der pal. Fauna, 

 p. 601) we note that he separates the Dartford Warbler of 

 England and North-west France from the typical bird of 



