Vol 'i*i9 XVI ] Loomis, The Reality of Species. 235 



other names? Is it easily said? Does it tie up the bird with 

 existing ideas? Can it be used in writing verse? Does it win the 

 popular attention and put both the bird and name in the memories 

 of the children and of the farmers? If it does all these, it will have 

 back of it all the power of the genius of English to fix it, make it 

 nation-wide and carry with it clear knowledge of the bird. 



This, it seems to me, is one of the greatest needs for the spread 

 of bird knowledge in America today. 



THE REALITY OF BIRD SPECIES. 



BY LEVERETT MILLS LOOMIS. 



In 1858, in volume IX of the 'Reports of Explorations and 

 Surveys . . . from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean,' 

 Ammodromus samuelis Baird and Melospiza fallax Baird appear as 

 full-fledged species. In 1874, in 'A History of North American 

 Birds,' Land Birds, volume II, these so-called species are reduced 

 in rank, being designated respectively Melospiza melodia, var. 

 samuelis, Baird and Melospiza melodia, var. fallax, Baird. In 

 1886, in the first edition of the A. O. U. ' Check-List,' these names 

 are altered, in accordance with earlier lists by Mr. Ridgway and 

 Dr. Coues, to Melospiza fasciata samuelis (Baird) and Melospiza 

 fasciata fallax (Baird), pure trinomials and the term subspecies 

 having come into vogue. In 1910, in the third edition of the 

 A. O. U. 'Check-List,' the two names are amended to Melospiza 

 melodia samuelis (Baird) and Melospiza melodia fallax (Baird). 



Owing to his lack of knowledge of geographic variation, Professor 

 Baird gave to each of these geographic variations of the Song 

 Sparrow an entity which they did not possess, and this entity, 

 having gained a foothold in the literature, is perpetuated to-day in 

 the subspecies ('incipient species'). As no one can foresee the 

 future of these variations of the Song Sparrow, it is not known 

 whether they are the beginnings of species or not. Nevertheless, 

 it may be urged that bird history repeats itself, and that the 



