Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/489

Rh Cypselus caudacutus, Charadrius fulvus, and many others, are omitted entirely from the List, although, according to Mr. Wharton's own definition, they ought to be "rightly considered British," since they have "at least once, beyond doubt, occurred in a truly wild state within the area of the British Isles."

In regard to the specific names adopted we have not much criticism to offer, because in most instances, as we have already remarked, the rules for zoological nomenclature have been strictly applied, and priority has been given to the oldest name to which a recognisable description has been attached. We may, however, point out one or two instances in which we consider it possible that Mr. Wharton may be mistaken. Is not the Firecrest Regulus ignicapillus of Jenyns, not Brehm? The first-named naturalist, in his 'Manual of British Vertebrate Animals,' p. 113, certainly writes, "R. ignicapillus, nobis." Should not Falco peregrinus, Tunstall, be F. peregrinus, Gmelin?—unless Tunstall, in his 'Ornithologia Britannica,' 1771, of which we have never seen a copy, forestalled Gmelin's description of this species, which was not published until 1778.

We should like to know Mr.Wharton's reasons for identifying the Spotted Eagle, which has occurred half-a-dozen times in this country, with the Aquila clanga of Pallas, instead of with the smaller Aquila nævia of Gmelin, with which it has generally been identified by British naturalists. Sterna macrura, Naumann, as Mr. Wharton has it, ought surely to be Sterna hirundo, Linnaeus; and Alca arra of Pallas is an older name for Brünnich's Guillemot than A. brunnichi of Sabine. We may point out, too, that the American Little Stint, which has accidentally occurred in this country on two occasions, is not, as Mr. Wharton supposes, the "Semipalmated Sandpiper," Ereunetes pusillus (Linnæus), but the smaller species, with toes cleft to the base, upon which Wilson, in 1813, bestowed the name of Tringa pusilla, and which many ornithologists call minutilla, Vieillot, although erroneously so, for Vieillot's name was not proposed until 1819.

Did space permit we might extend our criticisms considerably; but we think enough has been said to show that, while Mr. Wharton certainly merits the gratitude of British ornithologists for the great pains which he has evidently bestowed upon the undertaking, his 'List of British Birds' is still not quite so perfect a one as we may hope some day to see published.