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SAUNDERS" 'LIST OF BRITISH BIRDS.' 



A 'List of British Birds," revised to April 1SS7, by Howard Saunders, F.L.S., 

 F Z.S.. etc. London: Gurnev & Tackson, successors to Mr. Van Voorst, 



1SS7. : — _ 



A LIST of British Birds by a recognise.! authority on the subject has, 

 we venture to say, long been a desideratum. True it is that 

 Wharton's useful list has for some years occupied the tield in this 

 particular department of ornithological literature, but it was open to 

 considerable nnprovement, among others in respect of the classiiication 

 employed. Xo doubt Sundevall's system has many virtues, but as a 

 whole we confess we never became really familiar with it. and 

 consequently had almost invariably to refer to the index to species 

 — happily supplied. 



The chief requirements in a list of this description are, we take 

 it, as follows : — 



(ist) That it shall be an authority as to what species are to be 

 truly considered British. 



(2nd) That i: shall be based upon all that is recognised as 

 soundest and best as regards the important question of C/assifuition. 



(3rd) That its Xomendature shall be in accord with the recognised 

 laws of priority — the only true method by which we can eventually 

 hope to arrive at the much-to-be-desired uniformity both at home 

 and abroad. 



(4th) That the list shall be handsome and suitable as regards its 

 typography. 



Regarding the fultilment of the hrst three — the most imponant — 

 of these desiderata, the measure of success achieved depends entirely 

 upon the author selected for the task, and in this respect all of us 

 must recognise that the choice was a most happy one, for it would 

 have been indeed a difficult matter to have made one more suitable 

 than that of the gentleman so well known to ornithologists 

 for his varied and useful bird-work, and particularly in our present 

 special connection as the successful editor of Volumes III and IV of 

 the standard work on our avifauna — Varrell's • British Birds." But 

 while it is a pleasure to recognise that the all-important conditions 

 have been fultilled in a manner that leaves little — indeed, if a few of 

 the square brackets were removed we should say absolutely nothing — 

 to be desired ; yet as regards the typography it is quite otherwise. In 

 this respect it does not come up to our ideal of what the typograpliy 

 of such a hst should be, and indeed it is not too much to say that in 

 this respect it is weak. Apart from this defect, which we full}- admit 

 is of quite secondary moment and entireh- a matter of taste, this is 

 Irom its general excellence facile princeps among lists of British Birds. 



Naturalist, 



