"^"iqS^'^] Fourteenth SuppkmeiU to the A. 0. U. Check-List. 343 



FOURTEENTH SUPPLEMENT TO THE AMERICAN 



ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION CHECK-LIST OF 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



The Thirteenth Supplement to the Check-List was issued in 

 July, 1904 (Auk, XXI, pp. 41 1-424). ^ 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 

 in 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 laAv 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. 



1 For date and place of publication of previous Supplements, see Auk, 1904, p. 

 411. 



