294 Fifteenth Supplement to the A. O. U. Check-List. [f^ 



FIFTEENTH SUPPLEMENT TO THE AMERICAN 



ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION CHECK-LIST OF 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



The Fourteenth Supplement to the Check-List was published in 

 'The Auk' for July, 1908 (XXV, pp. 343-399). The present 

 Supplement gives the results of the Crmmittee's work at its meetings 

 held in Cambridge, Mass., November 16, 1908, and in Washington, 

 April 13-17, 1909. At the Washington meeting all questions 

 before it relating to the names and status of species, subspecies, 

 and higher groups were disposed of in preparation for the new 

 (third) edition of the Check-List, the manuscript for which is now 

 nearly ready for the press. The present Supplement is therefore 

 the final report of the Committee in relation to the preparation of 

 the new Check-List. 



It was finally decided, on the ground of convenience, to retain the 

 order of arrangement of the higher groups (orders, suborders, 

 families, etc.) followed in the former editions of the Check-List, 

 for reasons more fully stated in the Preface to the new edition. It 

 was also found desirable to omit the numeration of the species. 

 It was further decided (in opposition to a former ruling of the 

 Committee) to continue to use the possessive form, as heretofore, 

 in vernacular names based on the names of persons. 



The vernacular names employed in the Check-List were carefully 

 scrutinized with a view to their modification in cases where names 

 could be found that are more in accord with those in use where 

 the birds live. A number of popular vernacular names were thus 

 substituted for 'book names.' It was also decided to omit 'Amer- 

 ican' as a prefix, as being superfluous in a list of North American 

 Birds. On the other hand, European birds, with the same vernac- 

 ular names as their American representatives, are distinguished by 

 the prefix 'European.' 



The Fourteenth Supplement contained a list (I. c, p. 399) of 16 

 generic cases that had been referred to the Nomenclature Com- 

 mission of the International Zoological Congress for decision. 

 Unfortunately the Committee has been disappointed in its expecta- 

 tion of obtaining a report from the Commission in time to incor- 

 porate its decisions in the new edition of the Check-List. In the 



