170 The Smithsonian Institution 



an epoch in the history of American ornithology. The syn- 

 onymy and specific characters, original in this work, have 

 been used again and again by subsequent writers, with vari- 

 ous modification and abridgment, and are in fact a large basis 

 of the technical portion of the subsequent ' History of North 

 American Birds ' by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway. Such a 

 monument of original research is likely to remain for an in- 

 definite period a source of inspiration to lesser writers, while 

 its authority as a work of reference will always endure." 



In pursuance of the same thought, Coues, Stejneger, Dall, 

 and Ridgway have united in the characterization of what they 

 call the " Bairdian School of Ornithologists"; a school char- 

 acterized by exactitude in matters of fact, conciseness in de- 

 ductive statement, and careful analysis of the subject in all its 

 various bearings ; a school whose work is marked by a care- 

 ful separation of the data from the conclusions derived from 

 them, so that the conclusions or arguments can be traced 

 back to their sources and duly weighed. 



As Doctor Stejneger has shown, the writings of the older 

 European naturalists afford little basis for analysis, and the 

 investigator has no recourse but to accept an author's state- 

 ments and conclusions on his own responsibility. 



It is scarcely probable that any American naturalist would 

 have ventured to claim for a fellow-countryman so radical an 

 advance in scientific method, but I am not aware that the 

 generalization of Stejneger has met with any opposition 

 abroad. Indeed, during the twelve years which have passed 

 since Stejneger's characterization of the Bairdian School, its 

 methods have been generally adopted among advanced work- 

 ers on the other side of the Atlantic. 



The development of this school was due not alone to the 

 publication of the " Birds of North America," but still more to 

 the direct influence of its author, exerted by personal inter- 



