NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 399 



hindrance, for a genus itself is only a more or less imaginary 

 quantity used in classification, and valid by the useful purpose 

 it serves. 



The classification is unchanged, though recognized as not 

 now reflecting current views. " The fact, however, that present 

 systems of classification in ornithology are admittedly tentative, 

 and differ widely among themselves, it seemed best, from the 

 standpoint of convenience, to continue the old Check-list system 

 unchanged," since the users of it are familiar with the present 

 order of arrangement. In the opinion of the Committee, however, 

 a slight modification of the system proposed by Dr. Hans Gadow 

 in 1892 would best reflect our present knowledge of the classi- 

 fication of birds. Few workers will cavil at these decisions, and 

 it makes for edification to again refer to the title-page, and read 

 the golden maxim : " Zoological Nomenclature is a means, not 

 an end, of Zoological Science." 



Among other excellent features in this List is the mention 

 not only of the type of each genus, but the statement also of how 

 the type was determined, a matter frequently of vital importance 

 in these days of somewhat arbitrary identification. A reference 

 to the original description of each genus and species is given, 

 synonymy being wisely eschewed in a Check-list. Trinomial 

 designations are, however, not eschewed, and these, of course, 

 will be received by different workers in diverse appreciation. 

 The volume has been produced with much care and by an able 

 Committee ; it will be valued by working ornithologists outside 

 the North American faunistic area. 



A List of British Bii'ds, shoiving at a glance the exact Status of 

 each Species. By W. E. Ogilvie-Grant. Witherby & Co. 



This Catalogue is devised for labelling specimens or for refer- 

 ence, and may prove a successor to the List published by the 

 late Mr. Saunders in 1907, which, as so many additions to the 

 British Avifauna have been made since then, " is now out of 

 date." The classification commences with the Phasianidce and 

 terminates with the Corvi&ce. It is more than a mere list, the 

 descriptive notes as to the status of the rarer species alone lifting 

 it out of that category ; while by a columnar process we are 



