70 THE ORNITHOLOGICAL GUIDE. 



be given. In science, the practice of distinguishing 

 persons rather than facts ought to be discarded. It 

 was this mode of giving names that contributed to 

 retard and obscure, for ages, the science of chemis- 

 try." — p. 399. There are also several other modes 

 of naming which are objectionable ; as making the 

 English generic name, the Latin specific one, as — 

 Common Avoset, (Recarvirostra Avosetta;) the Black 

 Cormorant, Carbo Cormoranus; &c. Why not 

 Avosetta air icapp ilia, and Cormoranus carbo. Dim- 

 inutives should likewise be avoided, as Milvulus 

 (from Milvus, the genus Kite,) Laniellus, (from 

 Lanius, genus Shrike,) &c. Then again the generic 

 and specific name should not have the same meaning, 

 as, Cari/ocatactes Nucifraga, Erythaca Rubecula, 

 Phccnicura Ruticilla, Machetes pugnax ; the spe- 

 cific and generic terms of each of these birds have 

 here the same meaning conveyed in different lan- 

 guages ; the following names are more consistent 

 with sound nomenclature ; — Nucifraga punctata, 

 Rubecula familiaris, Ruticilla luscinia* Machetes 

 variabilis. Greek names should be avoided as much 



" The epithet Luscinia, or " mournful," is a very applicable specific 

 term for the Common Redstart: and this characteristic is well pour- 

 trayed by 1SI itdie : " Its song is sweet though plaintive, and has some 

 resemblance to that of the Nightingale (Philomela, ) only very inferior 

 in compass and power, and audible only at a short distance. The song 

 is uttered from the perch, on a ruin, a tall post, the trunk of a blasted 

 tree, or some other situation from which it can see around it; and one 

 who has heard the plaintive strain of the Redstart from the top of a 

 ruined abbey or crumbling fortalice, would be inclined to call it the 

 bird of decay, rather than the 'Wall Nightingale,' as Bbffok did." 



