2816 The Zoologist — November, 1871. 



Mr. Yarrell has ventured on nothing of this kind, or only in one 

 instance where he has converted "j'ellowhammer" into "yellovv- 

 ammer," because tlie Germans spell it "animer" — a very insuffi- 

 cient reason, and involving a principle which if adopted would alter 

 three-fourths of the names in the English language. 



The qualifications of Professor Newton to edit the fourth edition 

 of Yarrell are many and unquestionable, but I should have preferred 

 to have seen his name as tlie author of a new and perfectly inde- 

 pendent work ; still we must accept it as a most welcome addition 

 to our knowledge of the avi-fauna of Britain. Parts I. and II. are 

 before me, and bear unmistakable evidence of a master's hand. 

 I shall adopt my usual plan of making a long extract, and I select 

 a part that possesses the greatest amount of novelty, and at the 

 same time exhibits the painstaking character of the Editor. My 

 readers are, I am sure, jierfectly aware of the manner in which 

 Mr. Yarrell treats the gyr-falcon. " Some naturalists believe that 

 the Greenland and Iceland falcons are distinct species ; others with 

 M. Temminck consider these birds as local varieties only." (Vol. i. 

 p. 22). In a foot-n(Jtc Mr. Yarrell has added, " See a paper by 

 Mr. John Hancock, * Annals of Natural History,' vol. ii. page 241," 

 a paper which, I may add, seems to be almost entirely unknown. 

 In contrast to this very summary way of treating a difficult and 

 interesting subject, I will just say that there are now supposed to 

 be three species included under the collective name of Gyr-falcon, 

 that the rightful owner of that name has never yet been obtained in 

 Britain, and that Mr. Hancock, in the paper to which Mr. Yarrell 

 refers, most clearly distinguishes the other two, both of which are 

 known to inhabit, or at any rate to visit, the British Islands; and 

 having said this much I shall quote Professor Newton's description 

 of both, which cannot fail to be of infinite value to those of my 

 readers who have not access to the original. 



" Greenland Falcon. — No question in Ornithology perhaps has been so 

 much discussed as that which relates to the large falcons inhabiting the 

 northern parts of the globe. By the majority of uaturaUsts they have been 

 regarded as forming a single species, but of late years there has been a 

 growing tendency to recognize first two and then three distinct species or 

 races — according as the idea of what constitutes a species or a race is enter- 

 tained by the individual writer. It is now proposed to consider these three 

 forms (two of which have many times occurred in the British Islands) 

 separately, and it is hoped that the distinctive characters of each can be set 



