THE ORNITHOLOGICAL GUIDE. 21 



It is thus evident that not only the Genus of the 

 Hedge Dunnoc is different from that of the House 

 Sparrow, but also the Section, the Family, and even 

 the Tribe. In fact, as Bewick remarks, " it has no 

 other relation to the Sparrow (Passer) than in the 

 dinginess of its colors : — in every other respect it 

 differs entirely." I do not mean to say that Natu- 

 ralists adopt this name, — I am merely giving a 

 striking instance of a very prevailing custom — a 

 custom however not confined to Britain, as appears 

 by the following passage from the splendid work of 

 that distinguished Ornithologist, Charles Lucian 

 Bonaparte : — " According to Buffon and Vieillot, 

 this bird (the Palm Warbler, Silvia palmarum\ 

 Lath,) is a permanent resident in the West Indies, 

 where, as they state, the name is sometimes applied 

 to it of Fausse Linotte. We, however, can perceive 

 scarcely any resemblance, except in its dull state of 

 plumage, to a similar state of the Redpoll Linnet. 

 The name Bimbele, by which it is known among 

 the negroes of those countries, is derived from the 

 recollection of an African bird, to which, probably, 

 the resemblance is not more evident. Unfortunate- 

 ly, this propensity of limited minds to refer new 

 objects, however distinct, to those with which they 

 are acquainted, seems to have prevailed throughout 

 the world, and is found exemplified no where more 

 absurdly than in the Anglo- American names of 

 plants and animals." As long as scientific natural- 

 ists continue to adopt this mode of nomenclature, 



