Vol. XX"| LoOMis, Geographic Variation in Nomenclature. ^Q^ 



name, Tiirdus polyglottos ; Turdiis the name of the genus and 

 polyglottos the name of the species. 



Along the way cut out by Linnaeus numerous bird students 

 traveled. Boie in 1826 took the Mockingbird out of the genus 

 Turdus and put it in a genus of his own, giving the genus the name 

 Mimus., the species name remaining ?iSpolyg/oitus ; the whole name 

 of the Mockingbird thus rehabilitated was Mimus polyglottns. In 

 1827, Swainson likewise instituted a new genus for the Mocking- 

 bird, styling it Orpheus. 



Vigors, in 1839, in working up the birds obtained by the ship 

 'Blossom ' in her voyage along the Pacific Coast gave the Mock- 

 ingbird the specific name Icitcopterus, coupling it with the generic 

 name Orpheus, for he supposed he had discovered a new species 

 of Mockingbird. 



In 1858, Professor Baird thought possibly he had found a long- 

 tailed Mockingbird in California, and tentatively named it Mimus 

 caudatus. In 1865, Dr. Coues called the Mockingbird of Arizona 

 Mimus polyglottus, var. caudatus. 



The last author. Dr. Mearns. to deal with the Mockingbird, 

 tells us in 'The Auk ' for January, 1902, that there are two kinds 

 of Mockingbirds in the United States; namely, Mimus polyglottos 

 polyglottos, Mimus polyglottos leucopterus. I fear it will be said that 

 ornithologists have advanced backward from the binomial Mimus 

 polyglottus oi Boie toward the Turdus minor cinereo-albus no/i macu- 

 latus of Catesby. 



With partial knowledge of geographic variation, came departure 

 from the binomial system. Alitnus caudatus of Baird was found 

 to intergrade with the eastern bird and was reduced to Alimus 

 polyglottus. var. caudatus. Later the leading American ornitholo- 

 gists agreed to leave out the abbreviation var., and have the pure 

 trinomial, as in Mimus polyglottos leucopterus. With this change, 

 the term subspecies came into vogue, supplanting the word variety. 

 Then followed a period when great series were accumulated, and 

 subspecies multiplied, and now a large part of the United States 

 birds bear trinomials — even Catesby is outdone, for he called the 

 Cardinal by the binomial, Coccothraustes ruber, while in the last 

 systematic work on American birds the Cardinal has this cogno- 

 men, Cardiiialis cardinalis cardinalis — in short, cardinal is three 

 times, and out. 



