144 ON BIRDS’ NAMES. 
ON BIRDS’ NAMES. 
BY WM. G. PRAEGER, KEOKUK, IOWA. 
ORNITHOLOGIsTs can never be accused of having neglected 
the scientific names of birds, The majority of our text-books 
commence each article with a long list of so-called Latin 
names, each one followed by references quite untelligible 
to the average citizen, Many of our museums exhibit rows 
of mounted specimens, to each one of which is attached a 
label with a scientific name in large type, while it may or 
may not give a few other particulars. The beginner whose 
interest has been aroused by watching the birds themselves 
from day to day, when he inquires further into the science, 
is brought face to face with these terrible words, and is 
often convinced that a mastery of scientific names is the 
first step toward the desired knowledge. Becoming dis- 
couraged when he sees so much dull practising of the scales 
and five-finger exercises before him, he eschews all text- 
books, continues perhaps to watch birds with a rather hope- 
less pleasure, and dies still wishing he knew something of 
ornithology. 
While I believe that Latin names are a scarecrow to some 
and that, on the other hand, many forget that “ nomenclature 
is a means, not a end,” yet I do not undervalue their im- 
portance. Dried skins with dried names attached are in- 
dispensable to science; the more of them we have the 
better. The skins of dead birds, at times mounted to simu- 
late life, and the words of a dead language, revitalized by 
our rules of nomenclature, have much to teach us. But I 
contend that for many of the broadest, highest and best 
