HISTORICAL PREFACE. 



The PosT-LixNJiAN Epoch: 1758-1800. 

 (1758-1766.) 



The Linnoean Period. — Au interregnum here, during which not a notable work or 

 worker appears in North American ornithology itself. But events elsewhere occurred, 

 the reflex action of which upon our theme is simply incalculable, fully requiring the 

 recognition of this period. The dates, 1758-1766, are respectively those of the appear- 

 ance of the tenth and of the twelth edition of the " Systema Naturae " of Linnaeus. In 

 the former the illustrious Swede first formally and consistently applied his system of 

 nomenclature to all birds known to him; the latter is his completed system, as it finally 

 left his hands ; and from tlien to now, zoologists and especially ornithologists have dis- 

 puted whether 1758 or 1766 should be taken as the starting-point of zoological nomen- 

 clature. In ornithology, the matter is still at issue between the American and the 

 British schools. However this may result, the fact remains that during this "Linnsean 

 period," 1758 to 1766, we have the origin of all the tenable specific names of those of 

 our birds which were known to Linnaeus ; the gathering up and methodical digestion 

 and systematic arrangement of all that had gone before. Let this scant decade stand, — 

 mute in America, but eloquent in Sweden, and since applauded to the echo of the world. 



Nor is this all. The year 1760 saw the famous " Ornithologia " of Mathurin Jacques 

 Brisson (born April 20, 1725 — died June 23, 1806), in six portly quartos with 261 folded 

 plates, and elaborate descriptions in Latin and French of hundreds of birds, a fair pro- 

 portion of which are North American. Many are described for the first time, though 

 unfortunately not in the binomial nomenclature. The work holds permanent place; 

 and most of the original descriptions of Brisson's are among the surest bases of Linnseau 

 species. 



(1766-1785.) 



The Forsterian Period. — Nearly twenty years have now elapsed with so little in- 

 cident that two brochures determine the complexion of this period. John Reinhold 

 Forster was a learned and able man, whose connection with North American ornithology 

 is interesting. In 1771 he published a tract, now very scarce and of no consequence 

 whatever, entitled "A Catalogue of the Animals of North America." But it was the 

 first attempt to do anything of the sort, — in short, the first thing of its kind. It gives 

 .'502 birds, neither described nor even named scientifically. But that was a large num- 

 ber of North American birds to even mention in those days, — more than Wilson gave 

 in 1814. Forster followed up this exploit in 1772 with an interesting and valuable 

 account of 58 birds from Hudson's Bay, occupying some fifty pages of the "Philosophical 

 Transactions." Several of these birds were new to science, and were formally named, — 

 such as our White-throated Sparrow, Black-poll Warbler, Hudsonian Titmouse, and 

 Eskimo Curlew. Aside from its intrinsic merit, this paper is notable as the first formal 

 treatise exclusively devoted to a collection of North American birds sent abroad. The 

 period is otherwise marked by the publication in 1780 of Fabricius' " Fauna Grocnlandica," 

 in which some 50 birds of Greerdand receive attention ; and especially by the appearance 

 of a great statesman and one of the Presidents of the United States in the rule of orni- 

 thologist, Thomas Jefl"erson's " Notes on the State of Virginia " having been first pri- 



