134 The Wilson Bulletin— No. G8 



In the spring of 1804, Wilson knew scarcely an American 

 bird. He constantly appealed to Bartram to mark the names 

 of his species under his drawings. Soon the multiplicity of 

 current specific names purplexed and annoyed him, and he 

 writes to Bartram : "The more I read and reflect upon the 

 subject, the more dissatisfied I am with the specific names 

 which have be.en used by almost every writer. A name 

 should, if possible, be expressive of some peculiarity in color, 

 conformation, or habit ; if it equally apply to two difl:'erent 

 species, it is certainly an improper one. Is niigraforiits an 

 epithet peculiarly applicable to the robin ? Is it not ecjually 

 so to almost every species of fiirdiis we have? Eiiropca has 

 been applied by Pennant to our large sitta or nuthatch, which 

 is certainly a different species from the European, the latter 

 being destitute of the black head, neck and shoulders of ours. 

 Latham calls it carolincnsis, but it is as much an inhabitant 

 of Pennsylvania and New York as Carolina. The small red- 

 bellied sitta is called canadensis by Latham, a name equally 

 objectionably with the other. Turdns minor seems also im- 

 proper ; in short I consider this jiart of the business as pe- 

 culiarly perplexing : and I beg to have your opinion on the 

 matter, particularly with respect to the birds I have mention- 

 ed, ^\hether I shall hazard a new nomenclature, or, by copy- 

 ing, sanction what I do not approve." Fortunately for the 

 already overburdened synonymy, Bartram's council was 

 doubtless for a conservative course, and ever after Wilson 

 labored diligently to adopt names sanctioned by some one or 

 other of his predecessors, with due regard as to fitness, but 

 little as to priority. 



Wilson evidently endeavored to establish the identity of 

 Bartram's species whenever possible, but referred to the List 

 less and less as his own work progressed and his knowledge 

 increased, doubtless realizing the hopelessness of the task, 

 with nothing but the meagre description and the failing mem- 

 ory of his patron to assist him in the identification. On the 

 other hand as Coues has stated, many birds which \\'ilson 

 first fully discribed and figured, were named by Bartram, 

 and .several of the latter's designations were simply adopted 



