THE 00 LOG I ST. 



37 



clature was met by Dr. Elliott Coues in 

 his " Key to North American Birds." pub- 

 lished in 1872, and his Check List issued 

 the following year. These Avorks sprang 

 into popular and scientific favor and found 

 man}' converts, but the advent of the Key 

 and Check List onl}^ served to make the 

 problem more perplexing, as some still ad- 

 hered to Baird's List, while many adopted 

 Dr. Coue's code. So that during the suc- 

 ceeding years the country had no list 

 which was universally adopted as the 

 standard. The Ridgway Nomenclature, 

 which appeared in 1881, also found many 

 followers, and probably the majority of 

 ornithologists and oologists have adopted 

 it during the past five years. Now, how- 

 ever, we have the Code and Check List of 

 the American Ornithologists's Union, in 

 book form, handsomely bound. It con- 

 tains 393 pages, the first 17 of which are 

 devoted to the Introduction. This is fol- 

 lowed by 52 pages of "General Prinfiiples," 

 "Canons of Zoological Nomenclature," 

 and " Kecommendation for Zoological 

 Nomenclature in ihe Future." The Check 

 List begins on page 73 and continues to 

 page 347 ; then a Hypothetical List of 26 

 species, eight pages of Fossil Birds, and an 

 excellent Index completing the volume. 

 The present numbers are followed in every 

 case by tlie numbers borne \>\ each species 

 and sub-species in the Lists of Baird 1858, 

 Coues 1873, Kidgway 1880, and Coues 

 1882; then the liabitat of each species is 

 given. The basis of the code of nomencla- 

 ture here adopted is the Stricklandian, 

 which was drafted by a committee ap- 

 pointed at a meeting of the Council of the 

 British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, held in London, February' 11, 

 1842. In speaking of the adoption of this 

 Code, the A. O. U. committee say : It has 

 therefore seemed advisable to take the 

 orignal Stricklandian Code as the initial 

 pomt of departure to reaflirm and repro- 

 duce as manjr of its rules as may be desir- 

 al)le." The committee, in speaking of the 

 changes which it proposes and recom- 

 mends in this Code, says : ' ' 1st. The 

 adoption of the date of the 10th edition of 



Systeraa Naturae, 1758, instead of that of 

 the XII, 1706 as a starting point of the law 

 of priority for names. Second, "The rule 

 that prior use of a name in Botany does 

 not make that name unavailable in Zoolo- 

 gy." "Third, The principle of Trinomi- 

 als, i. e. using three words as the name of 

 those subspecific forms which are suffi- 

 ciently distinct to require recognition by 

 name, yet which are known to intergrade 

 with one another; the names of such 

 forms to consist of three terms, — a generic, 

 a specific, and 'a subspecific, written con- 

 secutively and continuously, without the 

 intervention of any mark of punctuation 

 any arbitrary character, any abbreviation, 

 or any other sign or term whatsoever." 



The appearance of so great a work pre- 

 pared by five of America's most eminent, 

 learned and methodical ornithologists will 

 exert an influence perhaps stronger and 

 more widely felt than any of its predeces- 

 sors; it is intended to supercede all pre- 

 vious lists, and it is fitting that it should. 

 As we will all have to adopt it, and as 

 some may not have seen it, it may be in- 

 teresting to give an analysis of the princi- 

 pal points of variance, and note the elimi- 

 nations, additions, revisions of nomencla- 

 ture, and changes of names which have 

 been adopted. 



The most striking feature of the A. O. U. 

 Check List, is that it reverses the classifi- 

 cation of all previous lists, by commencing 

 with the lowest, or most generalized type, 

 (the Grebes, Guillemots, &c.,) and ends 

 with that in which the highest grade of 

 physiological development as well as the 

 most physical organization is found, 

 (Kinglets, Gnatcatchers, Thrushes, &c). 



In the following pages, it must be under- 

 stood that the writer does not attempt to 

 I give all the additions, changes of names, 

 j &c. , but only such as come under his no- 

 I tice upon a cursory examination of the 

 i work. The following are some of the ad- 

 ; ditions : Kumliens Gull, Nelson's Gull, 

 Slatybacked Gull, Lesser Fulmar, Cory's 

 Shearwater, Peales, Fisher's, and White 

 faced Petrels, Farallone and Pelagic Cor- 

 morants, California Brown Pelican, Ru- 



