REED WARBLER. 
121 
river. These were placed indiscriminately, in any shrub 
most conveniently situated for the purpose; one was in 
a lilac, another in a lauristinus; and since in such a 
position the precaution was unnecessary, they were not 
of the usual depth which commonly characterizes the 
nests of this species. They were not deeper than the 
nests of the sedge warbler, and were composed almost 
entirely of grass, with bits of moss bound together with 
wool and spiders’ webs, finer towards the inside; in one 
only there was a few hairs. 
To avoid much error, I have adopted the name of 
this species which Mr. G. R. Gray has shown claims 
the priority, Arundinacea being by right the name of 
the great sedge warbler, leaving the specific name of 
turdoides to be borne by the thrush nightingale {Philo¬ 
mela turdoides), and thus avoiding the confusion which 
must arise from having two nearly allied birds bearing 
the same name. With one exception (that of two spe¬ 
cies of the same genus bearing it) a specific name, be 
it appropriate or not, even if incorrect in spelling, should 
never on any pretence be changed. A specific name ac¬ 
companied by a figure or description is a copyright for 
ever of the giver, and no one who has a love for 
natural history would attempt to rob a brother natu¬ 
ralist of his right, or to cumber science by naming 
for a second time an insect or a bird which he knows 
has been named before. 
