462 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the subdivisions adopted by Mr. Wharton be justifiable, one cannot 
help noting the inconsistency which marks the separation of, say, 
Gecinus from Picus, while the Yellow Wagtails are allowed to 
remain in the same genus as their Pied relatives. Why should 
the Serin Finch, which possesses all the essential characters of 
Fringilla, be removed from the genus in which it was placed by 
Linneus and dignified with a genus of its own? Why should the 
Green Sandpiper be removed from its recognized proximity to 
Totanus glareola, and have a genus to itself—Helodromas? We 
are aware that in the skeletons of these two birds a difference is 
observable in the posterior emargination of the sternum; but this 
seems scarcely sufficient to warrant a generic separation of two 
species which, in regard to external form, structure of bill, foot, 
and tarsus, flight, note, habits, mode of feeding, colour of eggs, 
and manner of rearing their young, are obviously as closely allied 
as any two species can well be. 
These and many other questions of a similar kind suggest 
themselves as we glance through the § List.’ 
In regard to the inconsistencies of terminations, to which we 
have referred, an instance or two will best illustrate our meaning. 
We observe that the Redstart is named Ruticilla pheenicurus, 
Linn., presumably because Mr. Wharton was unwilling to alter the 
form of the specific name bestowed by Linneus. For the same 
reason, apparently, we have Erithacus rubecula. And yet in the 
case of the great Reed Warbler and the common Reed Wren, 
Mr. Wharton has altered the termination of the specific names 
given by Linneus and Vieillot from arundinacea and strepera to 
arundinaceus and streperus, to agree in gender with the genus 
Acrocephalus, in which he has placed them. 
We notice that Parus britannicus, recently differentiated by 
Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser,* and Motacilla cinerocapilla, Savi, 
identified by Mr. Gould and Mr. Gurney as accidentally occurring 
in this country, are not recognized. Neither does Mr. Wharton 
recognise the British form of the Longtailed Titmouse, which he * 
calls Acredula caudata of Linnzus, although he distinguishes our 
Nuthatch from the Sitla europea of Linneus, and calls it, no 
doubt correctly, Sitta cesia of Wolf and Meyer. 
We observe, also, that several species, as Vireosylvia olivacea, 
Regulus calendula, Picus villosus, Picus pubescens, Ceryle alcyon, 
* See Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th Series, viii., p. 437. 
