OM THE NOMENCLATURE OF BIRDS 
jost as frequently misinterpreteil; and as tliey are followed in 
this book, il is perhaps wise to explain their tncaning. In most 
cases throiig-hont the following pages it will be noticed that the 
technical name consists not of two but of three words. The 
abbreviated name at the end makes four but that is only the 
name of the person who described the species and is always 
printed in different type—not being part of the name. This 
trinomial system, which met with a very stormy reception on 
its introcinction is now nniversally used (there may be a few 
die-hards tucked away somewhere) and it has proved so efficient 
in practice that there is at present a tendency, some say a 
danp:er, for it to develop into a yet more elaborate system from 
which, as a humble worker in a region in which the systematic 
side of ornithology still presents a certain amount of confusion, 
we devoutly hope to be protected. 
The third name has become necessary since the recognition 
of "sub-species" became inevitable. A stilnspecies is a geogra- 
phical race of a more widely spread species. Formerly the 
differences between these races were considered to be so slight 
and unimportant that scant attention was paid to them and only 
difierences striking enough to he considered of specific value 
were recognised. Thus to hark back to our original example 
the old naturalists say that the g-enus of true crows {Connts) 
contained among many others a large black species which they 
named the Cvn'us comx, a small black species Con^us coroue, 
and yet another one not all black but grey and black to which 
the name of Corz'us ionilr was applied; but reference to a 
list of the birds of Europe and North Africa published as 
recently as 1923 shows us that our old friend Conms muncduh 
is now divided into several "races" some of which with their 
racial or sub-specific characters and approximate ranges are : — 
C. *>J, mottidula. — Scandinaviai Finland, Baltic Pro- 
vinces. 
C. in. spermQiogus. — Darker, especially on the noder- 
parts : neck not so pale : British 
Isles to Italy, Morocco, etc. 
C. fn, coHaris. — Paler on the nnderparts; white neck 
patches : Russia, Balkan 
States, etc. 
