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PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 163 
A CATALOGUE OF THE BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 
By ROBERT RIDGWAY. 
INTRODUCTION. 
During the interval of twenty-one years which has elapsed since the 
publication of the last Smithsonian catalogue,* a great advance has 
naturally been made in our knowledge of North American ornithology; 
and so numerous and important are the changes which have resulted, 
through additions of new species, rectifications of synonymy, etc., that 
a new list seems desirable to take the place of the old one. 
The total apparent number of species given in the old catalogue has 
been increased only from 738 to 764, a slight numerical discrepancy 
which it is necessary to explain. From the catalogue of 1859 there 
have been eliminated no less than 62 names, which are either not entitled - 
to a place in the North American fauna or which have been degraded to 
varietal or sub-specific rank, the number of the species in the latter case 
being here simply duplicated as many times as there are varieties of a 
species. To offset this large reduction, 59 valid new species have been 
described since 1859, and 77 added, or restored, to the fauna, the acces- 
sions thus numbering 127 species, or 65 more than the eliminations. The 
forms considered to be of merely subspecific rank number 160, which, 
added to the 764 valid species recognized, gives a total of 924 definable 
forms composing the North American avian fauna, as now understood. t 
It is found impracticable to here distinguish, in all cases, between 
* Two catalogues of North American birds have been issued by the Smithsonian In- 
stitution, as follows: 
(1) Catalogue of North American Birds, chiefly in the Museum of the Smithsonian 
Institution. By Spencer F. Baird, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 
Washington: Smithsonian Institution. October, 1858. 4to, paper. 1p. 1., pp. xvii- 
lvi. [Reissue, with new title-page, of pp. xvii-lvi of Vol. IX, Pacific R. R. Reports 
(‘‘ Birds of North America”). Includes, besides the list of 738 species, with habitats, 
tables of the higher groups, and lists of extralimital species (23 in number) treated 
in the general report, and of others (31) claimed, on apparently insufficient grounds, 
as North American; also a summary of the number of species given in the works of 
Wilson, Bonaparte, and Audubon. ] 
(2) Catalogue of North American Birds, chiefly in the Museuin of the Smithsonian 
Institution. By Spencer F. Baird. First octavo edition. Washington: Smithsonian 
Institution. [Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, No. 108.] 1859. Syo. 2p. IL, 
pp. 19+2. [Essentially the same as the quarto list, but without habitats, and the 
matter relating to classification, ete. The two additional pages are an alphabetical 
index of the North American genera. As in the quarto list, there are, ostensibly, 738 
species, but 22 numbers are duplicated, making a total of 760 names in the list. ] 
tA full analysis of the changes made in this catalogue is given on pages 213-234. 
