Vol. XX 

 1903 



] Allen, The A. O. U. Check-List. 



category. Taking the same standard of activity as a basis, we 

 can now count at least three times this number, some of the most 

 active of whom had hardly appeared above the ornithological 

 horizon as late even as the publication of the second edition of 

 the Check-List. Some of the new contingent are especially 

 diligent in the search for new^ forms, others in bibliographical 

 research, and still others in both lines of activity. Field work has 

 been pushed with unprecedented energy, and along well planned 

 lines, resulting in the thorough exploration of much previously 

 little known territory, and the accumulation of large series 

 of specimens from many before unrepresented localities. It is 

 this, in the main, healthy and praiseworthy activity that is slowly 

 revolutionizing our Check-List of North American birds. When 

 the first edition was issued, doubtless many consoled themselves 

 with the hope that we had at last reached a stable nomenclature, 

 and that our troubles with names and new forms were practically 

 over. Even the authors of the Check-List, it is safe to say, little 

 dreamed of the developments the short period of sixteen years 

 has brought forth. 



What, it may be asked, is the outlook for the future? Are we 

 not nearly at the end of these changes and additions? While the 

 future is a ' sealed book,' in North American ornithology as in 

 other affairs, ' coming events cast their shadows before,' and it is 

 not diiilicult to forecast the general drift of ornithological events 

 for the next few years. 



Doubtless a few more waifs and strays from foreign lands will 

 be added to the list of species, — a feature not very disturbing nor 

 very important, — but probably very few, if any, bona fide species 

 remain to be discovered within our Check-List limits. As field 

 work is carried on with more thoroughness into the still many 

 neglected areas, and it becomes possible to compare the birds of 

 such areas with proper material from other regions, there will 

 doubtless be some surprises through the discovery of local forms 

 which have thus far been overlooked. But the numerical increase 

 from this source will depend largely upon the fineness of our 

 ornithological net, and the trouble will be to keep out of the 

 Check-List forms undeserving of recognition. 



There is hope of soon reaching the end of the overturning of 



