INTRODUCTION. 



'HOSE who have not miido a etudy cif the literature of American Oniitliolopy can liavc very litllf iilca ul' tin- inlvancc tlmt liiw Ufii 

 made during the present century, and og|iceially during the last thirty yearn; an advance tliat in n>in»rkHl)i<' — not only fur the im- 

 portant changes made, and the ropidity with which they have In-cn elU'clt'd, tiie value of the iinprovid rmthoijit iidopteil, the iiuinlHT nf 

 new facts ami forms discovered — hut also for tlie extent and excellence of the literature in which the pmu'rirK nf llir iicicncc hii.-* Iiii ii ncortlid. 

 The topic is a tempting (me ; but as it is not within the province of the present work to dincumt it at any Iciivth, tli'i.-c wlm iirr iiil<ni<liil in 

 the subject must Iks referred to the "Historical Preface" in the late editions of the Key to Xorlh Aiiurinui Jlinln, \>\ Vr. lll.l.lin-r Coura, 

 and to Professor Nkwton's article on Ornithology in the Eiicyclopicdia lirillannica, where tliey will lliid niueli to guidi' ami iiixlniet them. 

 A brief reference to a few jwintii must suffice here. 



An almost complete revolution in Classification and Nomenclature was e(l'ect<?d by the late I'rofeswir Haiui>"s llrimrl, |nilili^lii,l In 

 1859. In that celebrated and ei)ocli-making work the siK-eics were grou|K'd in six Orders, fit\y-six Families, and two liuiiilrid ami iilmtysix 

 Genera; and this system prcvaile<l until 1872, when, in the first edition of the Key, Dr. Cofm ineri-iised the number of Ordrrs t^i nine, tlie 

 Families to fifly-cight, and tlie Genera to three hundred ami twenty-eight. Another |Kiint of differi'nee in the methods adoptid by these 

 authors was, that while Baird, following the older systematists, jilaeed the IJirds of Pn^y first, Coi;1':h |iut the (hriiirn at the luad of his 

 system., giving to the Thrushes the place of honor so long hehl by tlie Vultures and Falcons. The singing birds are slill consiilcrcd as the 

 highest or most specialized types, but their position has l>ecn change<l to llie lust named instead of the first, the seipiemr having Inrn 

 reversed. 



Since 1872 numerous altcraticms have ap|)eared, notably in the HiKtory nj North Americnn lilrdi, hy nAiiin, Bkkwrii and liiiHiWAV; 

 in lilDOWAY's A'omcnc/u/Krc, issued by the Smithsonian Institution; and in the second edition of the Key; until, liimlly, in iMMii, ilir A. <). l'. 

 (JoMMlTTEK, whose determinations are almost universally accepted by American ornithohigists, elasfed the birds of Norlli Ameriia in seventrcn 

 Orders, sixty-six Families, and three hundred and twenty-seven Genera. Of these grouiw, the birds of Camuhi, it- shown by tlw aeeum- 

 panying Table, represent fifteen Orders, fifly-five Fannlics, and two hundred and thirty-six Genera. The Orders imt n preneiited in the liuina of 

 the Dominion are Odontoglossa and I'siUaei, of which there is but one species of each in America — the American Flamingo {I'luniicopterwi 

 rufter) representing the first named, and the Carolina Panxiuet (_Conunu carolinenm) the latter. 



Some idea of the field work that has l)een accomplished, and the discoveries nmdo, may l)e gatliere<l from the following list, which 

 shews the total number of sjiccies and 6ubs])ccie8 given by the different authors at the dates nameil. 



738 1884, Coues 002 



778 188(5, A. O. U. Connnittcc, . W!0 



930 1887, Coues 960 



888 1887, Kidg\vny, . . . 1028 



This list requires some explamition, for the apparent increase has not been wholly due to the discovery of new s|H>ties, il-, iiiight 1m' 

 inferred. A portion of the increase is due to the extension of the territorial limits embrace<l under the tenn " North America," when useil 

 for ornithological puriwses. In Baird's Report the bird.s named were tliose that had l)een found north of the boundary between the United 

 States and Mexico, excluding Lower California and Greenland. In the first edition of the Key, Lower Calif()rnia was iiieliidcd, but (ircen- 

 land was excluded; and in the Smithsonian Catalogue, |)ublished in 1881, Mr. Ridgwav extended the limits* to endirace Greetdand, the 

 Peninsula of Lower California, and the Islands of Guadcloujie and Socorro. (Dr. Coues had included the Greenland fauna in the secoml 

 edition of his Check-List, which was in lyjie when Mr. Ridoway's Catalogue appeared.) The A. O. U. Committke have fixed tlie limits 

 thus: "The Continent of North America north of the present United States and Mexican boundary, and Greenland, and the Peninsula of 

 Lower California, with the islonds naturally belonging thereto." 



Other additions to the list of American birds have been made by the admission of eztra-limital species, es|iccially of those occurring 

 in Northern Mexico ; hut by far the largest addition, apart from the discovery of new forms, has come through the recognition of gcographieul 

 races as varieties or 8ub3})ecies, and the giving to these races a distinctive nome — a trinomial. 



