No. 6.j THE AUSTRAL AVIAN RECORD 163 



On p. 118. " Redstart, Sylvia Pho&nicurus, according to 

 Linnaeus a motacilla. This bird, when the genus motacilla 

 were divided, ought to have retained its first generic name, 

 being 'nearly related to the Wagtails. It is the Ruficilla 

 muralis of'Forster's Synop. Catalogue." 



Is it possible that a revised edition of the Synoptical 

 Catalogue appeared, of which at present we have no cognisance, 

 as the names above quoted do not occur in the 1817 copies 

 available ? In a list of " Books in Natural History, published 

 by Wilham Wood, 428, Strand, " there is included " A Synop- 

 tical Catalogue of British Birds. By T. Porster. Lond. 1821. 

 8vo boards, with a coloured plate of the Strix Scops. 3s. 6d." 

 The 1817 copy referred to for comparison above belonged to 

 E. Forster Jun., to whom T. Forster makes acknowledgment 

 on the last page, so that it should be a complete authentic 

 copy of the 1817 issue, and it does not contain a coloured plate 

 of the Strix Scops and was " printed by and for Nichols, Son 

 and Bentley " and " Sold by T. and G. Underwood." 



It may be that the second print of the 1817 edition only 

 contained the coloured plate, and it was continued in the 

 " 1821 " edition, which we would like to see. 



In the Gentleman's Magazine for October 1817, p. 348, 

 appears : " Mr. Thomas Forster ha^ discovered in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Tunbridge WeUs a new species of Wren ; it 

 most nearly resembles the Sylvia hippolais of Montagu's 

 Dictionary ; but it is dark brown above. Mr. Forster proposes 

 to caU it Sylvia Brunnea." 



We have not seen this species otherwise quoted, while of 

 the generic names in this 1827 book Butor has been credited 

 to Swainson 1834 and Salicaria to Selby, while Caturates and 

 Ficaria we have never seen recorded by any nomenclator. 

 Caturates appears to have the first claim for the series of Gulls, 

 if these be separated from L. canus, the type of Larus. The 

 Mews bear the name Chroicocephalus Eyton 1836 as accepted 

 by Ridgway in his recent work. It is remarkable that such a 

 notable List should have escaped the note of every zoologist. 



For the species Acrocephalus palustris (Bechst. 1803) an 

 earlier reference is Motacilla s. Sylvia palustris Bechstein, 



