182 LEACH, Naming Australian Birds [ Th J ai f mu 
which is often a better aid to identification than is the scientific 
name. The scientific name must be the same in all countries 
and languages, so it is governed by laws more rigid than the 
laws of the Medes and Persians, and must change under those 
laws when knowledge changes as more facts come to light. It 
is not so with the vernacular name. Here appropriate, inter¬ 
esting, inspiring and euphonious names should be used. An 
American list with Bobolink, Chickadee, and Killdeer, and the 
British list, with Skylark, Blackbird, Goldfinch, and Blackcap, 
were the envy of bird lovers. Our Australian list, with Great 
Brown Kingfisher, Y ellow-vented Parrakeet, White-rumped 
Wood-Swallow, Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike, and White- 
shouldered Caterpillar-eater, was of less interest to non-experts 
and children. 
However, Australian birds are becoming better known. Kooka¬ 
burra, Currawong, Galah, and Willie Wagtail will please poets 
and young people and still further endear the birds to our chil¬ 
dren — the future citizens and ornithologists of this great land. 
Trouble for the Editors is, in the concluding stages, certain. 
How shall Skylark be printed as regards hyphen and capital 
letters? Authorities in English cannot agree, and Skylark is ap¬ 
proved in four forms: (a) Skylark, (b) Sky Lark, (c) Sky-lark, 
and (d) Sky-Lark. Truly, it has been said that “the use of the 
hyphen is chaotic/’ and almost as bad is the use of the capital 
letter. 
CONCLUSION. 
The Official Checklist (Second Edition) was practically com¬ 
pleted when four events of importance occurred. (1) The 
Systema Avium Bthio pic arum. Part I., by W. L. Sclater, M.A., 
and (2) The Name List of British Birds, by the B.O.U. Com¬ 
mittee, came to hand; (3) then the concluding part of Mathews’ 
Checklist gave up-to-date synonymy; and (4) more acceptable 
still, Mathews’ proposals re subgenera reached us. 
4 he generic standard of Mathews’ Check List differed so 
greatly from that of the African and B.O.U. lists that agree¬ 
ment seemed impossible. The Systema Avium Ethio pic arum, a 
most valuable work, followed a different classification from that 
of the B.O.U. list. The R.A.O.U. Committee urged large genera, 
the African and B.O.U. lists supported and even extended that 
view. Mathews’ new generic proposals agree well with the B.O.U. 
genera, and are acceptable. The few points of difference are now 
being discussed. Full agreement in a list of Australian birds that 
all can use is now certain, and will be a happy termination to a 
lengthy period of uncertainty and difference in the scientific 
names of Australian birds. 
