Dea Fourteenth Supplement to the A. O. U. Check-List. 343 
FOURTEENTH SUPPLEMENT TO THE AMERICAN 
ORNITHOLOGISTS’ UNION CHECK-LIST OF 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
Tue Thirteenth Supplement to the Check-List was issued in 
July, 1904 (Auk, XXI, pp. 411-424).! Since this date the Com- 
mittee has held six sessions, all except one in Washington, at the 
following dates: April 21-25, 1905; January 17-20, 1906; Novem- 
ber 16-17, 1906; April 18-23, 1907; December 12, 1907 (at Phila- 
delphia); April 15-20, 1908. 
In view of the probable early appearance of a third edition of the 
Check-List, authorized by the Union at the Stated Meeting held 
m November, 1906, it seemed best to the Committee to withhold 
its reports from publication till the results of its work should appear 
in the new Check-List. Now that the manuscript for the new 
edition is practically completed, it seems desirable that the Com- 
mittee should, in accordance with precedent, give reasons for the 
changes it has instituted during the last four years, since these 
cannot be readily indicated in the Check-List. Its decisions 
involve, as usual, additions to and eliminations from the Check- 
List, changes in nomenclature and in the status of groups, and the 
rejection of many proposed additions, and changes in nomenclature 
and status. 
The Committee has aimed to secure as stable a foundation as 
possible for the new Check-List, anticipating a few changes in 
names that would soon surely arise, as well as those already pro- 
posed. Nearly all of the nomenclature changes here recorded 
are due to the strict enforcement of the law of priority, and result 
from the recent bibliographic work of a large number of investi- 
gators, abroad as well as in America. As a result of the special 
interest and activity in this field, many previously little known or 
wholly overlooked early works have been discovered, and others 
have been scanned with greater care. 
In this connection the Committee .desires to recognize the im- 
portant assistance it has had from its Secretary, Dr. Charles W. 
'For date and place of publication of previous Supplements, see Auk, 1904, p. 
411. 
