Sherman — Birds by the Wayside 245 



pleasant recollections as do their more prosaic names, learned 

 later. One wonders if it was permitted Eve to name the 

 birds ; if so, what rare sport she had ! 



For book knowledge of the birds seen in northern Europe 

 indebtedness is due to the works of numerous writers, among 

 whom special mention is made of James Backhouse, Bentley 

 Beetham, J. Lewis Bonhote, John A. Bucknill, William 

 Eagle Clarke, Charles Dixon, Heinrich Gatke, James Ed- 

 mund Elarting, John Lea, R. B. Lodge, R. Kearton, Percy 

 R. Lowe, H. B. Macpherson, Robert Mudie, Alfred Newton, 

 W. P. Pycraft, Howard Saunde-rs, R. Selous, A. L. Thomp- 

 son, N. F. Ticehurst, and William Yarnell. 



To speak of the commonest birds by their common names 

 ^vould appea-r to hz a simple undertaking, yet in doing it 

 there are pitfalls for the stranger, which may not always be 

 escaped, and many more beset one's course in the use of 

 scientific names due to lack of uniformity in the various 

 books. Perhaps the most reliable, up-to-date guide in nomen- 

 clature is the recent publication, "A Lland-List of British 

 Birds," by the four writers, Messrs. Hartert, Jourdain, Tice- 

 hurst, and Witherby. It employs trinomials for subspecies, 

 and includes numerous birds from the British Lsles that 

 differ sufficiently from their congeners on the continent 

 of Europe to entitle them to recognition as subspeciesi. The 

 modifier " British " very iproperly belongs to them, but t"he 

 innovation that saddles " Continental " on their very near 

 relation found on the Continent seems to be one scarcely 

 acceptable to the ornithologists of other European countries. 

 The skilled field student may be able to recognize some of 

 these fine distinctions, but it would be the height of folly for 

 the wayside wanderer to pretend to anyth'ng of the sort. 



The shelves O'f our libraries groan beneath the weight of 

 the many volumes of books, that treat of the history, custom, 

 art, natural products, commerce, and other interesting topics 

 concerning the countries I visited. Yet from none of the books 

 of travel that 1 have read does the prospective tou.rist gain 

 an adequate idea of what species of birds he is likely to see. 

 In fact most of these books are singulaTly silent on the sub- 

 ject of birds. Books abound that treat of the avifauna of 



