PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION. IX 



in the case of the "Small White-eyed Vireo" which enters our 

 territory in the Rio Grande Valley. If this name is adopted 

 some distinguishing term must be added to the wide-ranging 

 "White-eyed Vireo" which has stood as it is in all of our ornitho- 

 logical literature. It seems far more logical to alter the name of 

 the little known form of the Rio Grande to "Rio Grande Vireo" 

 and leave the name "White-eyed" as the exclusive property of 

 the bird that has always borne it, especially as other races of this 

 species have been named "Key West Vireo" and "Bermuda 

 Vireo," without bringing in the term "White-eyed" at all. 

 There are a few other similar cases. 



It has been urged by some that since as we have trinomial 

 technical names with a uniform specific name running through 

 all, as ^^melodia" in the Song Sparrows, so we should have a 

 uniform name of some sort running through the vernacular names 

 of all the races of a species, as for instance "Common White- 

 eyed Vireo, Key West White-eyed Vireo, Bermuda White-eyed 

 Vireo, and Small White-eyed Vireo." The objections to this 

 scheme are the length of the names, the difficulty of their being 

 used in speech, on labels, or in literature, and the fact that they 

 would be subject to change every time we altered our views as to 

 the specific or subspecific rank of the bird concerned. At the 

 same time where names formed in this way have been adopted 

 in former editions of the Check-List they have not been changed. 

 The object throughout has been to maintain so far as possible 

 the stability of the English names. 



References. In amplifying the references to place of publica- 

 tion the attempt has been made to supply more definite dates in 

 cases where previously only the year has been quoted, and to call 

 attention to the subdivision of a work published in instalments by 

 indicating the part, number, livraison, heft, signature, and so on 

 to which the date applies. This necessitates the placing of the 

 date in different positions in different references: i.e., after the 

 title or volume, if the whole work appeared in a single issue; 

 after the part or number to which it refers, if the publication 

 appeared in parts; or, in certain cases where the papers in a 

 journal appeared separately without any number by which to 

 identify them, after the page reference. 



Furthermore while the ostensible date is always quoted, it has 



