THE ORNITHOLOGICAL GUIDE. " 87 



but it is certain that the Latin name would not be 

 required so frequently if the proper English names 

 were given, as in the case of the Mocking bird and 

 Sedge Reedling before mentioned. Now for Mr. 

 Strickland : — " I may remark that French natu- 

 ralists are much more addicted to the adoption 

 of vernacular names to the exclusion of scientific 

 ones, than the English. By endeavouring to coin a 

 a French term for every natural object, in addition to 

 the Latin one which it already possesses, they exactly 

 double the enormous labor of bearing in memory the 

 innumerable terms with which science is unavoid- 

 ably encumbered." I do not think that the French 

 show any disposition to "exclude" the Latin names, 

 simply their own system of vernacular nomenclature 

 being more exact than ours, the incessant repetition 

 of the Latin name is rendered unnecessary. And so 

 far from the creation of a vernacular generic name, 

 doubling the enormous labor (!!!) as Mr. Strick- 

 land calls it, of the herculanean task of bearing in 

 memory the innumerable terms, &c. &c, I should 

 rather say that its effects would be exactly to half 

 the slight degree of application requisite to attain a 

 familiarity with scientific terms, and at the same 

 time render the acquisition of science ten times 

 easier. To proceed with Mr. Strickland's article : — 

 " If, then, I am correct in regarding the English 

 names of Buds as belonging not to science, but to 

 our mother tongue, it is clearly better to let them 

 remain as they are than by endeavouring to reform 



