Birds. 2291 



Nomenclature of Birds. — Will you allow me a few lines to set myself right, if 1 

 can, with your able correspondent Mr. Fisher (Zool. 2134) ? It appears to me that 

 objections may be made to a specific name in Natural History, without any necessity 

 being implied of a new and more appropriate name having to be substituted in its 

 stead by the individual by whom the objections are brought forward. And, living in 

 a remote and obscure corner of the country, where the study of Natural History is 

 wholly unknown, and where there is access neither to museums nor to expensive pub- 

 lications, I should certainly consider it as great presumption on my part were I to 

 propose the adoption of a scientific name for any object in ornithology. Nor had I, 

 moreover, the slightest intention of infringing that excellent rule, priority in nomen- 

 clature, to which you yourself express your determination to adhere, and which, in- 

 deed, would appear to be absolutely necessary, if uncertainty and confusion are sought 

 to be avoided in Natural Science, — inasmuch as this science is at the present moment 

 advancing in all its branches with unusual rapidity, and is being almost daily enriched 

 by numerous and important discoveries. My complaint was, that a better selection 

 was not made when a name was being given for the first time to the bird in question ; 

 and although it would now be improper to change this name, such complaints may, 

 nevertheless, produce more satisfactory results in nomenclature yet to come. My ob- 

 jections are not yet weakened in any measure to names ending in oides ; and I cannot 

 help still thinking that a specific name is what it really ought to be, only when it al- 

 ludes to something which is peculiar to the object named, and which is not to be found 

 precisely the same — as to form, or colour, or habit, as the case may be — in any one 

 whatever of the other objects, however many, throughout the whole of that particular 

 genus, which, along with itself, they all make up. I can at the same time easily be- 

 lieve, with Mr. Fisher, that to construct a nomenclature on such a principle would be 

 exceedingly difficult, or rather, perhaps, impracticable ; but I am humbly of opinion, 

 nevertheless, that the more this principle is carried into effect, the more clear and sa- 

 tisfactory will the science of Natural History become. I did not take upon me to say 

 that the white bar on the wing of the Fuligula ferinoides should have been the foun- 

 dation of its scientific specific name. I merely asked, if that, or some other peculiar 

 mark, might not have been selected at the time, instead of the word which was ac- 

 tually adopted. I had no opportunity of seeing a specimen of the new pochard, nor 

 of examining the different species of which the genus Fuligula is composed ; and I 

 now find that such a name would not have answered, seeing that other species in the 

 genus Fuligula are, in this respect, marked in a greater degree even than the Fuligula 

 ferinoides. The observations made by Mr. Fisher on the name Eegulus reguloides 

 would seem to have somewhat the appearance of implying his belief that no such name 

 has ever been given to any object in Natural History. It is but proper, therefore, to 

 refer him on this point to Sir William Jardine's edition of ' Wilson's American Or- 

 nithology,' where he will find (vol. i. p. 127) that this identical name was conferred by 

 the editor on the American golden-crested wren, no fewer than sixteen years ago. Sir 

 William Jardine is acknowledged, on all hands, to be one of the must eminent of our 

 living ornithologists; and, if the principle involved in such a name as Regulus regu- 

 loides is bad, it cannot but be evident that its adoption by so influential an authority 

 must have consequences injurious to the purity and the precision of science. — James 

 Smith ; Manse of Monquhitter by Turriff, Aberdeenshire, October 2, 1848. 



Ornithological Observations in Norfolk for the months of June, July and August. — 

 About the 7th of June an adult female white stork was shot near Yarmouth ; and on 



