378 
Bibliographical Notices . 
University. Attached to the 4 Catalogue ’ is a supplement or list 
showing the sources whence the specimens (about 6000 in number) 
were obtained. Such a work will greatly enhance the value of this 
collection, to which it forms an almost exhaustive guide ; and as such 
it will doubtless be warmly welcomed by most working ornitholo- 
gists. Appended to each species is the reference to its original 
description and to works containing its geographical distribution ; 
but we think that the value and interest of the 4 Catalogue 9 would 
have been considerably increased if the latter item had been briefly 
sketched out in a similar manner to that in the British-Museum 
Catalogues of Birds. The general arrangement adopted, subject to 
certain necessary modifications and additions, is that elaborated by 
Messrs. Sclater and Salvin in their 4 Nomenclator Avium Neotropi- 
calium,’ which has for its basis the system of Huxley. 
In the earlier portions of the work (the only ones at present we 
have had the opportunity of carefully examining) we notice that 
Mr. Salvin does not admit the distinctness of Turdus mctgellcinicus 
from Turdus falMandicus. The latter bird is, we believe, an island 
form confined to the Ealklands, whilst the former is found in 
various parts of South America. Again, we fail to see why the 
genus Merula should be disregarded when the genera Oreocinclct, 
Geocichla, Petrocincla, and Zoothera are recognized. The name 
Oreocincla Beinii of Cabanis surely has the precedence over that of 
0. iodura of Gould, although the former naturalist erroneously gave 
44 Japan” as the locality for his species. We also notice that Mr. 
Salvin (following Messrs. Blanford and Dresser in their celebrated 
4 Monograph of the Chats ’) makes the Saxicolci leucomela of Pallas 
synonymous with the Saocicola lugens of Lichtenstein, although 
these two birds are quite distinct. Again, upon what grounds is 
Cetti’s Warbler included in the subfamily Buticillinse ? Mr. Salvin 
also makes this bird synonymous with the Bradypterus platurus 
(?platyurus) of Swainson. The type of this species (from S. Africa) 
is in the Cambridge Museum, and was identified as 44 nothing but 
Cetti’s Warbler ” by Mr. Dresser in his 4 Birds of Europe/ a con- 
clusion shown to be totally erroneous by Mr. Seebohm in 4 The 
Ibis’ for 1878, p. 380. Swainson’s generic name will stand for 
this South-African spe’cies ; but his specific name must give place 
(if the law of priority is enforced) to that bestowed by Yieillot ; and 
it will consequently stand as Bradypterus brachypterus (Yieill.). 
Moreover Cetti’s Warbler has no claim whatever to be included in 
the genus Bradypterus, nor has it the slightest claim to such a 
generic title. The type of this genus (B. brachypterus ) has twelve 
tail-feathers, whereas the group of Warblers amongst which Cetti’s 
Warbler is included ( Cettia ) is distinguished by having only ten 
tail-feathers. . 
We must also strongly protest against the changing of many well- 
known names — names familiar to us from our childhood — of such 
birds as the Garden-Warbler, the Whitethroat, the Dartford 
Warbler, the Beed-Warblers, and the Chiffchaff, and substituting 
for them unknown synonyms raked up from a just and well-merited 
oblivion, or transferring the name of one species to another until 
it ceases to have any definite meaning. 
But apart from these faults and inaccuracies it is impossible to 
overestimate the value of such a Catalogue, dry enough, it is true, 
to a non-scientific reader, but to the ornithologist working with the 
birds in this magnificent collection truly a 44 friend in need.” 
