219 



Art. V. On the English Nomenclature of 



Birds* 



The English nomenclature of birds is the only 

 department of Ornithology which has not received 

 the attention it deserves, from the Naturalists of 

 Britain. In the science, properly so called, we 

 have Willughby, Latham, Swainson, Vigors, Selby, 

 and others equally illustrious, while the descriptive 

 or popular department has been no less ably rilled 

 by Pennant, Montagu, Mudie, Blyth, and other 

 admirable writers and acute observers. But the 

 vernacular designations of birds have been most 

 ignominiously abandoned to popular caprice and 

 absurd superstitions. Whether or not such a sys- 

 tem—or rather such a want of system — can advan- 

 tageously be permitted to continue, it is the inten- 

 tion of the present paper briefly to investigate. 



Now, there can be little doubt but that it is very 

 convenient to call a bird by a name by which it has 

 always been known to the vulgar ; but is such a 

 system of procedure consistent with the princi- 

 ples on which philosophic science ought to be 

 based? — Is it, I would ask, consistent with any 

 principles? — Most assuredly not. But still I 

 candidly admit, that the principles of English 

 nomenclature, which I so ardently desire to see 



* Read before tlie Worcestershire Natural History Society, to 

 which body it was communicated at our request, by the Honorary 

 Curator, Edwin Lees, Esq., M.E.S., &c— N. W, 



