EXPLANATIONS. 



1. Thk names in the Check List are consecutively numbered from first to last, M^hether 

 they he of species or of subspecies. The latter are sufficiently distinguished by consisting 

 of three terms instead of two. 



2. The names in the Dictionary are numbered to correspond, each page containing the 

 same numbers of the two series. 



3. The person's name in parentheses immediately after each bird's name is that of the 

 original describer of the species or subspecies. The unenclosed name succeeding is that of the 

 authority for the particular combination of generic, specific, and subspecific terms adopted. 

 When the original describer is also the authority for the combination, a single unenclosed 

 name is given. — The following are the principal abbreviations: — 



All, Allen. 

 Aud., Audubon. 

 Bd., Baird. 

 Bodd., Boddaert. 

 Bp., Bonaparte. 

 Cab., Cabanis. 

 Cass., Cassin. 



Gamb., Gambel. 

 Gir., Giraud. 

 Gm., Gmelin. 

 Gr., Gray. 

 L., Linnfeus. 

 Lafr., Lafresnaye. 

 Lath., Latham. 



Latvr., Lawrence. 

 Licht., Lichtenstein. 

 Nutt., Nuttall. 

 Reich., Reichenbach. 

 Bidg., Ridgway. 

 Scl., Sclater. 

 Steph., Stephens. 



Sw., Swainson. 

 Temm., Temminck. 

 Towns., Towaisend. 

 v., Vieillot. 

 Vig., Vigors. 

 Wagl., Wagler. 

 Wils., Wilson. 



4. After these terms come three letters, '' B," ** C," and " R," each followed by a number. 

 These stand respectively for Baird'' s List, 1858, Coues^s Check List, 1874, and Ridgway^ s 

 Catalogue, 1880. The number following each of these letters is that which the bird bears in 

 such lists. Thus, Turdus migratorins was named by Linnaeus, who is also the authority for 

 the combination, and is 155 of Baird's list, 1 of Coues's, and 7 of Ridgway's. The dash 

 after any one of these letters shows that the species is not contained in B, C, or R, as the 

 case may be. 



5. The note of exclamation, in parentheses, indicates that the species is in North America 

 only a straggler from the country that the following initial letter denotes : E., Europe, 

 A., Asia, 31., Mexico, W. I., West Indies. G. shows the bird to be only North American 

 as occurring in Greenland. 



6. The note of interrogation, similarly enclosed, means that the name is considered to be of 

 slight or uncertain value, — as of a subspecies scarcely distinguished from its stock, or of a 

 species not well known. 



7. The Index will be found to contain matter additional to, or corrective of, that in the 

 body of the work. See p. 137. 



