552 Nomenclature of British Birds. 



Mountain finch, Fringilla montifringilla. A mature individual was 

 caught under a stone one severe snowy day in November, near Balta- 

 sound. The bird is still alive and in the possession of my uncle ; it 

 continues very wild in the cage. 



Grey plover, Squatarola cinerea. I killed a male of this species 

 on the 20th of December : it was associated with a flock of turnstones, 

 ringed plovers and various tringas. So wild was it, that it was only 

 after a full day's chase that I succeeded in getting a shot at it as it 

 was crossing a small creek, and procured it. T. Edmonston, .tun. 



Baltasound, January 29, 1844. 



Nomenclature of British Birds. 



It has occurred to me that an opportunity now offers both for removing the diffi- 

 culty you complain of (and justly), and at the same time making out a list or system 

 of" vulgar" nomenclature (if I may so use the word), which would be very generally 

 appreciated by a large class of naturalists. You have contributors from every part of 

 the kingdom, many of whom must be intimately conversant with all the common 

 names applied to any bird &c. in their district. Now if some one would undertake 

 " thankfully to receive " communications from all quarters, as to the local names in 

 question ; and would take the trouble carefully to compile thence every appellation he 

 could get, taking as his guide, or rather as the foundation of his work, first the scien- 

 tific name from some acknowledged authority, as Selby ; and secondly, the English 

 name for each species adopted by the same or another authority, as Yarrell : and not 

 neglecting the information given as to provincial names by Montagu, Bewick, Selby 

 and others ; I think a useful and valuable, if not amusing, catalogue might be made 

 out. — Rev. J. C. Atkinson ; in a letter to E. Newman. 



Your complaint of the inconvenience arising from the diversified nomenclature 

 of British birds, induces me to suggest, that if a complete list of the species which 

 have been hitherto found in this country, were published in ' The Zoologist,' your or- 

 nithological correspondents, by referring to this for the names of the birds of which 

 they write, instead of using those given them by different authors, or the numerous 

 provincial names which belong to most of the commoner species, would avoid much 

 confusion and difficulty. The names made use of in this list should be, as far as pos- 

 sible, those which are most familiar to every one, always, of course, avoiding those which 

 have arisen from any superstitious notion, and may lead to error. And the same remark 

 will hold good with respect to the Latin names. It may be objected to this, that there 

 is no room in the already well filled pages of ' The Zoologist ' for such a list as that 

 which I propose ; but if your correspondents would make use of it, the space would 

 not, I think, be lost, and such a catalogue would always be useful for reference. I 

 shall perhaps be excused for observing here, that by the omission of the Latin names 

 of many of the common species, much space might be saved in the pages of * The 

 Zoologist.' It appears to me that in a work of this sort, these Latin names are seldom 

 necessary, except to distinguish birds which are very rare, or whose changes of plu- 

 mage, being imperfectly understood, make them liable to be confounded with nearly 

 allied species. — William R. Fisher ; Great Yarmouth, March 2, 1844. 



