sions; and actually gives the name "Wren" to three birds, belonging to two genera, whilst there is not a single Anorthura in the family! It is difficult, nay impossible, to imagine what benefit can result from giving "Owl," "Wren," or any other name, to five or six perfectly distinct and well defined genera. What should we think of the Naturalist who did likewise in Latin? and who told us that though he gave the name Strix to the whole of the Strigida, yet meant to divide the family into seven genera?-Although this may appear to be carrying the matter to an extreme and I admit that it is an exaggeration-yet the principle is the same, whether we look to the Latin or the English appellations. Both belong equally to science, and both must be made to correspond. It is strange that the principles here briefly adverted to, have not received the attention they deserve, from the Naturalists of our own country, as they have long been known and acknowledged by the French Ornithologists. But the alteration must and will be effected, notwithstanding the opposition it may meet in its progress. New discoveries or new principles-whatever be their intrinsic value-are ever viewed with a suspicious eye, and are seldom appreciated during the lives of their propounders; but it is to be hoped that the Gentlemen of this prosperous and flourishing Society will not allow the subject to pass unnoticed. If any one would be kind enough to transmit to me remarks in favor of, or controversial to, the opinions herein expressed, I should feel sincerely obliged to him, and would give all such observations due consideration. I am of course fully aware that the desultory, and perchance tedious, observations, here thrown together, can in themselves be of little value, but I trust that the mere introduction of the subject to the attention of the Society, will not be without its use, and that they may be instrumental in causing more talented individuals to pursue the same track, on an equally sure basis.-With the most sincere wishes for the advancement of the Society, I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, NEVILLE WOOD. THE END. 229 INDE X. Additional Notes, 181 84 Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie, Animal Biography, Bingley, 32 Architecture of Birds, 24 Audubon, Birds of America, 77 77, 183 Avium rariorum, &c., Descriptiones, Merrem, 11 Bechstein, S.M., Cage Birds, &c., 15 Gemeinnützige der Vögel Deutschlands, 14 Ornithologisches Taschen buch, 14 Great Britain, Lewin, 17 Blackwall, on the Cuckoo, 41 Blainville's System, 132, 148 Blumenbach, G. F., Handbuch der Naturgeschichte, 28 Blyth, Smaller British Birds, 97 Ornithologie, &c., 8 British Birds, Natural History of, Cyclopædia, 92 Miscellany, Sowerby, 25 Naturalist, Mudie, 62 Oology, Hewitson, 87 of, 201 Remarks on Review Song Birds, Treatise on, 37 British Songsters, Wood, 189 Zoologist's Text Book, 81 Buffon, G. L., Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux, 9 Bulletin des Sciences Nat., 97 of Zoology, 31. Cuckoo, on the, Blackwall, 41 &c., Jenner, 41 Cuvier, G. Regne Animal, 29 his System, 126 Desmarest, A. G., Histoire Nat. des Tanagras, &c., 24 Dict. Classique d'Hist. Nat., 97 Edinburgh Journal of Nat. History, uncommon Birds, 6 Eyton, T. C., History of the rarer British Birds, 191 Fabricius, Otho, Fauna Grænlandica, 14 Faculties of Birds, 89 Familiar Hist. of Birds, Stanley, 184 Fauna Boreali Americana, Richardson, 33 Grænlandica, Fabricius, 14 Suecica, Linné, 4 Feathered Tribes of the British Islands, Mudie, 63 Fleming, John, History of British Animals, 39 Philosophy of Zoology, 39 Hist. Nat. des Trochilidées, Lesson, 48 of the Earth and Animated of the rarer British Birds, Jameson, two Letters to, Waterton, 47 Naturalist's Library, 85 Jesse, E., Gleanings in Nat. Hist., 79 his System, 119 of Orinthol., Jardine, 84 Knapp, Journal of a Naturalist, 58 Lane, Figures of the Parrots, 62 General Synopsis of Birds, 10 |