THE AMElUiWy ORy ITIIOWCISTS' VMON 



479 



CaniHi and l>i>> Aiip'lcs. a week was 

 >|H'iit at till' ranaiiia-racilic iv\|)0!>i- 

 lidii. ami side \y\\i< to the redwoods and 

 the Yosoinilo ^'alU■v wi're an-angi'd for 

 tliosc wlio could lake them. A ])enna- 

 iicnt and instruct ivr exhibit »d' one of 

 these lri|i> uiav he seen in tlie Aniei'it-aii 

 ]\luseuni in two of the hahitat bird 

 groups — "Brandt's Cormorant at IMon- 

 torev" and "Snninicr Bird Tiife of the 

 San .Toa(iuin \'alU'v"" — the material for 

 w hicli was coUeited in l!Hi;5. 



Sc'ii:\i'ii'ic \V()i;k oi' Till-: A. O. T^. 



The decade ininie(liate]y jireceding 

 the organization of the T'nion was a 

 ])eriod of great activity in the study of 

 Xorth American hirds. ]\rany 1)Ooks 

 and itapers had been jtublislied, hut the 

 classitication and nomenclature which 

 they followed were not always uniform 

 and it was not uncommon for a bird to 

 a|)[)ear under several scientific names. 

 In fact two check lists of birds, ditfer- 

 ing widely in classification and names 

 of some of the species, were in common 

 use. To remedy this confusing condi- 

 tion a committee on classification and 

 nomenchiture was appointed at the first 

 meeting and at once began a thorougli 

 review of the whole subject. IJules of 

 nomenclature known as the A. 0. U. 

 Code were adopted and later were ac- 

 cepted by virtually all i\merican orni- 

 thologists and many workers in othei' 

 branches of zoology. They have since 

 lieen incorporated in large part in the 

 International Code of Nomenclature. 

 A new check list was prepared in which 

 well-markeil species were indicated as 

 u>ual by binomial scientific names. 

 whih' birds wliicli are slightly marked 

 and grade into geographic forms or 

 subspecies were designated by trino- 

 mials. Thus the name of the common 

 red-headed woodpecker is Melanerpes 

 rri/tJiroceplialus, but that of the Cali- 

 fornia woodpecker which grades into 

 several forms is Melanerpes forini- 

 civorus hairdi. Instead of beginning 

 with the highest birds and running 



down the M-ale, the Dew list followed 

 the inoi'e logical |»lan of beginning with 

 the lowest or most generalize(l and 

 working gradually \\y to the higlu'st or 

 ]nost specialized forms, 'i'he year 1758 

 was ri'cognize(l as the beginning of bi- 

 nonual nomenclature and the eaidiest 

 available ^cieiitilie name after this date 

 was a(lo|)te(l foi' each bird. The report 

 of the committee, published after three 

 years of laborious investigation, formed 

 a vdlunie of nearly four hundred pages 

 and was at once accepted as the stand- 

 ai'd ;iuthoi'ity on the names of North 

 American l)i rds. In this respect the 

 committee succeeded beyond ex])ecta- 

 tion in its dillicult task. As new birds 

 were discovered or changes in names 

 were made necessary by progress in 

 knowledge, supplements were issued 



William Dutclicr, president of tlie Xational 

 Association of Audubon Societies, was treasurer 

 of the Ornitliologists' Union from 1887 to 1903. 

 His name stands for bird conservation, that most 

 popular branch of applied ornithology, and it is 

 largely due to his enthusiastic efforts that such 

 rapid strides were made in bird protection be- 

 tween the years 1896 and 1905, resulting finally 

 in the establishment of the Xational Association 

 of Audubon Societies and its incorporation in 

 the latter year. (From a photograph of 1910) 



