SCIENTIFIC NAMES AND CLASSIFI- 

 CATION OF BIRDS 



These are subjects too extensive to deal 

 with in a book of this kind but a few words in 

 regard to them may prove of help to some 

 readers. 



The scientific name of any bird consists of 

 two or three words of Latin or Greek, or in 

 some cases of words from other sources, es- 

 pecially proper names of persons or places 

 with Latin terminations added. The first 

 of these words designates the genus, or group 

 of birds to which it belongs, and the second 

 the species, or particular kind of bird. A 

 genus (plural genera) is a group of species 

 separated only 'by small differences (usually 

 those of color, size, proportion of parts or 

 similar superficial characters), but closely 

 resembling each other in all important re- 

 spects. Genera of birds usually consist of 

 but few species; in many cases a species, if 

 no others closely resembling it exist, consti- 

 tutes a genus by itself. Genus names are 

 always written beginning with a capital 

 letter. 



In the case of many birds, these two names, 

 genus and species, sufficiently designate them 

 for scientific purposes, yet we often find that 

 birds belonging to the same species but in- 

 habiting different geographical areas within 

 the general range occupied by the species, 

 differ more or less in their characters, though 

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