16 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. 



distribution of the species and subspecies was undertaken by the 

 Committee as a whole, each member in turn taking it in hand, while 

 the incorporation of typographic and other rectifications made during 

 the sessions of the Committee, 1 and the final preparation of the manu- 

 script for the printer, was referred to a subcommittee consisting of 

 the Editor of 'The Auk/ to whom was also assigned the general 

 editorial supervision of the work. 



The following extracts from the Introduction to the Code of Nomen- 

 clature (pp. 14, 15) will serve to explain the scope and plan of the 

 Check-List, including the method of incorporating additions. 



"1. That the term 'North American/ as applied to the proposed List of 

 Birds, be held to include the continent of North America north of the present 

 United States and Mexican boundary, and Greenland; and the peninsula of 

 Lower California, with the islands naturally belonging thereto. 



"2. That species be numbered consecutively, and that subspecies be 

 enumerated by affixing the letters, a, 6, c, etc., to the number borne by their 

 respective species ; provided, that any subspecies of a species not included in 

 the North American Fauna shall be separately numbered as if a species. 



"3. That stragglers or accidental visitors, not regarded as components of 

 the North American Fauna, be distinguished by having their respective num- 

 bers in brackets. 



" 4. That any subsequent additions to the list be interpolated in systema- 

 tic order, and bear the number of the species immediately preceding, with 

 the addition of a figure (1, 2, etc., as the case may require), separated from the 

 original number by a period or decimal point, thus giving the interpolated 

 number a decimal form (e. g., 243.1, etc.), in order that the original numbers 

 may be permanent. 



"6. That Giraud's at present unconfirmed species of Texan birds be in- 

 cluded in the List on Giraud's authority. 



"7. That species and subspecies the zoological status of which cannot be 

 satisfactorily determined, like, e. g., Regulus cuvieri and Spiza townsendi of 

 Audubon, be referred to a hypothetical list, in each case with a brief statement 

 of the reasons for such allocation. 



"8. That a list of the fossil species of North American birds be added as 

 an Appendix to the List proper. 



1 The Committee desires to here acknowledge valuable assistance received, especially 

 in the preparation of the geographic portions of the list, from Major Charles Bendire, Mr. 

 Frank M. Chapman, Dr. Walter Faxon, Dr. A. K. Fisher, Mr. Gerrit S. Miller, Jr., and Dr. 

 T, S. Palmer. The Committee is further indebted to Dr. Palmer for numerous correc- 

 tions in the citations of original references. 



