200 Transactions. — Zoology. 



understanding as to what is intended to be expressed by such stock terms as 

 "ashy," "dusky," "cinereous," "rufous," "fulvous," "olivaceous," and the like. 

 But the flexibility of our language enables a describer, by the exercise of a 

 little skill and judgment, and the free use of qualifying adjectives, to express 

 with precision almost every shade of colour by the use of such compound 

 words as " clear brownish-grey," " delicate purplish-grey," etc., with the help 

 also of the comparative term, as for example, " darker towards the base," or 

 " lighter towards the tip." A good deal of practice, however, in describing 

 colours and their distribution is necessary to make an expert in the art, so 

 that a written description may have the effect of bringing the object described 

 vividly and distinctly before the mental eye. "Werner's Nomenclature of 

 Colours, although a work very little known or used, I have found very useful 

 for fixing in my own mind certain general rules, so as to ensure consistency 

 in my descriptions of birds and other natural objects. 



References to Diagram — Plate VII. 



1, forehead (frons) ; 2, crown (vertex) ; 3, hind-head (occiput) ; 4, nape 

 (nucha) j 5, lore, or loral space j 6, eye (coloured margin, iris) ; 7, ear-coverts ; 

 8, hind-neck (cervix) ; 9, side of neck j 10, back (dorsum) ; 11, rump (uropy- 

 gium) ; 12, upper tail-coverts ; 13, tail-feathers (rectrices) ; 14, primaries, and 

 15 secondaries (remiges) ; 16, larger wing-coverts; 17, lesser wing-coverts 

 (including "median") ; 18, carpal flexure, or bend of wing; 19, scapulars ; 

 20, chin (mentum) ; 21, throat (gula) ; 22, foreneck (jugulum) ; 23, breast 

 (pectus)', 24, abdomen; 25, vent; 26, under tail-coverts; 27, tibial plumes ; 

 28, cere ; 29, ridge of upper mandible (cidmen) ; 30, lower mandible. 



In continuation of former papers, and as a further contribution to the 

 subject I have been discussing, I beg to lay before the Society the following 

 notes and observations, based chiefly on the examination of recent additions 

 to the collection of birds in the Canterbury Museum ; 



Sceloglaux albifacies, Gray. — Laughing Owl. 



* 



Since the publication of my work several specimens of this bird have been 

 received at the Canterbury Museum. Two of these have the sides of the face 

 sufficiently white to justify the specific name selected by Mr. Gr. R. Gray, and 

 to which exception has been taken by one of your contributors, who proposes 

 to substitute ejulans. (Trans. N. Z. Inst., Vol. III., p. 63.) It cannot be too 

 strongly enforced that a name once imposed is sacred, and must on no account 

 be ignored on the ground of inappropriateness. Classical defects in specific 

 names may of course be corrected, but to disregard the inflexible law of 

 priority, or to make its observation capricious, would lead to endless compli- 

 cations and confusion in our nomenclature. An appropriate and euphonious 



