78 PKOCEEDINGS OF tfNlTEI) STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



lists, but tbo iiarm done to science itself can be but slight. It is a pe- 

 culiarity of the construction of an ornithologist's heart that it takes a 

 great pleasure in " sitting clown" upon the new forms described by any 

 fellow-ornithologists. In fact there are writers who think it more inter- 

 esting to reduce names than to establish new ones. Under such cir- 

 cumstances the untenable forms will soon be disposed of and be given 

 their proi)er place in the synonymies. 



The trinominal system involves another danger, however, which may 

 be injurious to the true interest of science. I mean the untimely reduc- 

 tion of good and distinct species to mere races or varieties. Not oidy 

 ■does it cause great instability and uncertainty in our nomenclature, but 

 it tends to prejudice the forms if once reduced, by an authority, on in- 

 sulhcient evidence. We still see almost every day undoubted species, 

 the distinctness of which has long ago been proved over and over again, 

 designated by the cumbersome and misleading trinominals. Here is real 

 danger, real harm! Fortunately, however, the reaction has commenced 

 in this country, but in Europe the latest and most eloquent advocate 

 of trinominals tries to continue the work of Blasius. 



Tlie necessity or desirability of trinominals has of late been questioned 

 by nonprofessionalists. The replies in " Tlie Auk " have been so thorough 

 on that side of the question which they have treated that little needs 

 to be said by me. But I have an imi)ression that the inquirers have not 

 got all their questions answered nor all their doubts solved. 



The above question is in reality a threefold one. (1.) Is it necessary 

 to recognize those slight differences which are seen in the so-called local 

 races ? (2.) Is it necessary to have them designated by a separate 

 name I (3.) Why is the trinominal designation to be preferred"? 



(1.) To the first (piestion I would say that it is of vital imi^ortance to 

 ornithology as a science that these minor differences be recognized. It 

 may be well enough for tbose whose chief object is to label specimens in 

 collections and museums to5gnore these difficult cases in which the identi- 

 fication has to be done by a traiued eye and a trained mind, but it must 

 be observed that such persons have no idea of what the science requires, 

 nor are their services to science of i)articular value. It is confessedly, 

 in many cases, very difficult to distinguish between two closely-allied 

 forms, but it is as important in ornithology that the differences be not 

 overlooked as it is in any branch of the invertebrates, although nobody 

 thinks of giving up specific distin(;tions among the small animals, be- 

 cause an amateur or a dilettante is unable to tell animalcules of one 

 order from those of another. I am indebted to my friend 11. Kidgway 

 for being permitted to quote the following abstract of a manuscript of 

 his, which seems to me to illustrate more fully what I have hinted at 

 above : 



" The most imi)ortant advantage of trinominals is that they serve as 

 convenient ' handles for facts,' in providing for the naming of forms 

 whicli 2«ce known not to possess the requirements of true species, but 



