Vol i907 IV ] ' Vo * es and News - 367 



thorough lover of nature, very modest and kind-hearted, and beloved by 

 all who knew him. 1 — H. K. C. 



The A. 0. U. Committee on the Nomenclature and Classification of North 

 American Birds held a five days' session in Washington in April (April 18- 

 25), at which satisfactory progress was made in settling the large number 

 of cases that awaited its action preparatory to the publication of a new 

 edition of the Check-List. A few questions, relating mainly to little 

 known forms of birds, were necessarily deferred on account of lack of 

 material, but all questions of nomenclature were practically cleared away, 

 and only the preparation of the manuscript for the printer remains to be 

 completed. This, however, is a serious undertaking, especially the part 

 relating to the geographical ranges of the species and subspecies. The 

 preliminary draft for this part, kindly undertaken for the Committee by 

 Mr. Stone, is, however, well advanced, but the new Check-List as a whole 

 will probably not be ready for the printer before the end of the present year. 



It is an open secret that the new Check-List will differ materially in 

 arrangement from former editions, through the adoption of a modern 

 system of classification, and also otherwise through the elimination of the 

 old concordance and the secondary references. The various propositions 

 in reference to the character of the vernacular names, which have been 

 suggested to the Committee, either publically in 'The Condor' or 'The 

 Auk,' and also privately through correspondence, have been carefully 

 and for the most part favorably considered, so that the changes that will 

 be made in this respect will meet all of the essential objections that have 

 been raised in reference to this important feature of the Check-List. 



The rapid development of the New York Zoological Park is emphasized 

 by the Eleventh Annual Report of the Society (for the year 1906) recently 

 issued. The satisfactory increase of all the departments, and the com- 

 pletion of many permanent improvements is noted, as also the good health 

 and very low rate of mortality prevailing among the animals. The bird 

 collection, at the close of the year 1906, "contained living examples of 26 

 orders of birds out of the total 31 orders," while the net increase over 1905 

 was 136 species and 549 specimens. The total number of specimens at 

 the end of 1906 was 2104, representing 491 species, the birds of the United 

 States being represented by about 170 species. Great advance has been 

 made in labeling the collection with large descriptive labels, embracing 

 maps showing the distribution of the species. The management, Director 

 Hornaday, and his able corps of Curators, are entitled to the highest credit 

 for developing a zoological park of the first rank in so short a period. 



['See also an appreciative reference to Mr. Douglass in 'The Auk' for April, 1907, 

 p. 122, in a paper by Mr. John F. Ferry on 'Ornithological Conditions in North- 

 eastern Illinois,' — Ed.] 



