4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



To a novice it Beenis curious that men of the first intellect 

 should pay so much attention to web-footed gentrj- with wings." 

 In that trio of early American ornithologists — Wilson, Audu- 

 bon and Bonaparte — names that must always be associated 

 together — Bonaparte stands out distinctly as the systematist, 

 the one whose logical mind saw more clearly than that of any 

 other ornithologist of his time the fundamental problems of 

 relationship. His first paper publi.«hed in the Academy's 

 journal was entitled "Observations on the Nomenclature of 

 Wilson's Ornithology." Here was in fact, and I think in 

 name also, the first appearance of "nomenclature" in orni- 

 thological science. To quote Coues, it "introduced a new 

 feature — decided changes in nomenclature resulting from the 

 sifting and rectification of synonymy. It is here that questions 

 of synonymy — to-day the bane and drudgery of the working 

 naturalist — first acquire prominence in the history of our special 

 subject." When we realize that when he prepared this paper 

 Bonaparte was barely twenty-one years of age, it is obvious 

 that we are dealing with a man of extraordinary ability. Fur- 

 thermore he wrote his scientific contributions in the next few 

 years in three different languages, and though he was constantly 

 apologizing for his " bad English," he had little to be ashamed 

 of. His comprehensive knowledge of ornithology was not con- 

 fined to the bird life of any single country'; it was cosmopolitan 

 in its range and character, as is attested by his great work, the 

 Conspectm Avium, published in 1850. Bonaparte's Synopsis, 

 published in 1828, was the first attempt at a definite and sys- 

 tematic arrangement of the species and genera of North Ameri- 

 can birds. It is the original of the modern check list and the 

 various systems of classification. The copy of the "Synopsis " 

 carried by Audubon on his Labrador trip, and with his mar- 

 ginal notes on the various species of birds observed is now, 

 among other interesting Americana, in the collection of a Phila- 

 delphia gentleman. Another fact of interest relates to the 

 names of the two genera of American doves described bj' Bona- 

 parte — Zenaida and Zenaidura. These evidently bear the name 

 of his wife, Zenaide, a fact, and one of the very few facts, over- 

 looked by Dr. Coues in his bibliographical researches. 



