Vol. XVl"l Elliot. Truth versus Error. 2Q 



1899 J ^ ■* 



In not including among his sympathizers the experts in inver- 

 tebrate zoology, I suppose Dr. Allen attributes their defection 

 entirely to a lack of backbone, which would not permit them a 

 sufficient rigidity to be wrong when they could be right! My 

 friendly critic did not care, in his assertion of the success Canon 

 XL has achieved, to go beyond the boundaries of the United 

 States, save to make a faint claim of having converted some 

 *' Naturalists abroad being well aware that the doctrine that 

 advocates adopting not only every blunder that is in sight, but 

 also every one that shall be made hereafter, is not one likely 

 to find favor with those who have been taught from their child- 

 hood to write grammatically and spell correctly. Excepting in 

 the case of " so nearly all the leading authorities, at least in 

 North America," how has this educational Canon succeeded in 

 other lands ? The authors of the Great Catalogue of Birds, which 

 for many years to come will be the standard work in Ornithology, 

 have throughout the long series of volumes already issued, with 

 an unanimity that was to be expected, completely ignored and 

 repudiated this Canon XL, and have not permitted the blunders 

 of other writers to disfigure their productions. These gentlemen 

 are the recognized " leading authorities " in ornithological science 

 in the Old World, both on account of their scientific as well as 

 their literary attainments, and as " educated men " versed in 

 classical knowledge and grammatical construction, it can never 

 be expected that even a conformity of nomenclature can be 

 established if it depends upon their endorsement of the doctrine 

 embodied in Canon XL. Where then is stability of nomencla- 

 ture to be looked for? Is it to be confined "at least to North 

 America?" Is the avifauna of this country so great and para- 

 mount that we can build a Chinese wall along our borders and 

 have a nomenclature all our very own and be quite independent 

 of those who are not so happy as to live among us ? The Birds 

 of North America, numerous and splendid as they are, constitute 

 only a fraction of those of the world, and a stable nomenclature 

 for our feathered inhabitants can only be assured by cooperating 

 with ornithologists of other lands. And it requires no prophet 

 to foretell that some other basis will be necessary than the tenets 

 offered by Canon XL before any agreement will be reached. 



