1919-] Letters, Esclrads, and Notes. 165 



of priority, as laid down undt^r the rules of the International 

 Zoological Congress, are strictly adhered to, there are many 

 points, as, for instance, the limits of genera, and the amount 

 of differentiation sufl&cient for the recognition of subspecies, 

 which must always remain to a great extent a matter of 

 individual opinion. The Committee believes that, if it is 

 possible by the joint efforts of a body of English-speaking 

 ornithologists to produce an authoritative list of the birds 

 of the world, it would be of great use, especially to those 

 whose interest in ornithology is with field-work or anatomy, 

 and, furthermore, that it would tend greatly to stabilize our 

 nomenclature. 



The special committee appointed to take this matter into 

 consideration is as follows : — Messrs. E. C. Stuart Baker, 

 C. Chubb, W. Eagle Clarke, E. Hartert, T. Iredale, G. M. 

 Mathews, Lord Rothschild, and W. L. Sclater. This com- 

 mittee has met several times and has communicated its 

 plans to the Secretary of the A. O. U. They hope shortly 

 to have a reply from the Council of that body, and if, as 

 they hope, this is in favour of the project, they propose, 

 with the co-operation of the Royal Australian Orni- 

 thologists' Union and that of other societies in English- 

 speaking countries who may be interested in the matter, to 

 carry out a scheme to this effect. 



It is proposed to issue a series of six volumes, under the 

 title of ' Systema Avium,^ each dealing with one of the zoo- 

 geographical regions — i, e., Paisearctic, Indian, Ethiopian, 

 Australian, Nearctic, and Neotropical. 



For each volume a responsible editor will be appointed, 

 but it is to be understood that the whole work should be 

 subject to the revision of the Committee and that the 

 arrangement and classification of each volume should be on 

 the same lines, and that such generic and specific names as 

 appear in any two or more volumes should be the same, so 

 that complete uniformity might be secured. 



Each list is to be drawn up somewhat on the lines of the 

 recently published B. O. U. List of British Birds, but no 



SER. XI. — VOL. I. N 



