) 
30¢ 
NOTES AND COMMENTS. a 
THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 
Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant and his colleagues on the Com- 
mittee of the British Ornithologists’ Club have just issued their 
Report on the Immigration of Summer Residents in the Spring 
of Ig10, with notes on the migratory movements and records 
received from light-houses and light-vessels during the autumn 
of 1909. These latter have been condensed ‘so as to shorten 
the Report which is becoming yearly more voluminous.’ The 
present Report, which contains over three hundred pages, is 
published by Messrs. Witherby & Co., and unquestionably 
contains a mine of information relating to the movements of 
birds. Besides the weather reports, etc., the volume includes 
details of the immigrations of thirty-three species of birds, 
many being illustrated by maps, giving particulars of the 
records received. There is no doubt the British Ornitholo- 
gists’ Club is doing excellent work in classifying this mass of 
material, and placing it on record. The price is not stated, 
but presumably it is six shillings. 
NEW BRITISH BIRDS ? 
In British Birds for October, Mr. M. J. Nicoll describes 
“A New British Bird’ (the Slender-billed Curlew), which was 
shewn to him ‘in the flesh’ on September 2ist. It was, of 
course, shot in Kent. In the same journal Mr. E. Hartert 
discovers that “‘ not less than five forms ’ of Green Woodpeckers 
“must be distinguished within Europe alone. . . . ‘ Eng- 
lish Woodpeckers are . . . nearest to the Central European 
form, but the wings are still shorter . . . Moreover, the 
bill is shorter, but not slenderer, so that it appears to be rather 
stronger and more stumpy. The English form requires there- 
fore a new name,’ and it is proposed to call it Picus viridis 
pluvius, subsp. nov., because of the ancient superstition that 
its call is the sign of approaching rain. We then learn that 
Italian Woodpeckers have the same measurements as the English 
ones, but the beak is considerably slenderer. It is consequently 
named Picus viridis pronus, subsp. nov. The fifth European 
form is Picus viridis sharpei from Spain. If this sort of thing 
goes on, we shall soon have a separate name for every bird shot 
or ‘seen in the flesh,’ as no two birds are exactly alike. If, for 
the sake of argument, the birds in question should be described 
as new, there is certainly no excuse for describing new species 
without giving illustrations! Opinions may easily differ as to 
what ‘slenderer’ means. 
PUZZLES IN NOMENCLATURE. 
In the Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine for October, the 
Hon. N. Charles Rothschild refers to a flea taken from a rat, 
which has been described as Xenopsylla scopulifer Rothschild ; 
but, which turns out to be Xenopsylla brasiliensis Baker. Ina 
2A 
IgII 1911 Nov. 1. I. 
