I I J. Stejneger o« Changes hi Noincnclatiire. [April 



ON CHANGES IN ORNITHOLOGICAL NOMENCLA- 

 TURE—A REPLY TO CRITICS. 



BY LEONHARD STEJNEGER. 



"Consistency is a jewel." — Dr. E. COUES. 



A SHOUT paper of mine, published about a year ago, entitled : 

 'On some generic and specific appellations of North American 

 and European birds,'* was intended to furnish such data as might 

 be properly considered in studying the nomenclature of North 

 American and European birds. It has caused considerable com- 

 ment, and two courteous editorials — one in the 'Bulletin of the 

 Nuttall Ornithological Club' (VI, 1SS2, p. 178), and the other in 

 'The Ibis' (18S3, p. 116) — have passed several remarks upon it, 

 which make an answer from me desirable. My excuse for pre- 

 senting a reply so late is that I have but recently returned from 

 my journey to the Commander Islands and Kamtschatka. 



The American reviewer admits that a principle, like that which 

 I want rigorously enforced, is most likely to bring the now almost 

 overpowering confusion to an end. He says: "We believe that 

 the surest way out of the nomenclatural difficulties that beset us 

 is to be found in some such simple rule as this, and that to upset 

 every name that can be upset according to any recognized princi- 

 ple is really the shortest road to that fixity of nomenclature for 

 which we now all sigh like furnaces." But nevertheless he 

 thinks that tliere ought to be a statute of limitation, "by which a 

 bird resting in undisturbed enjoyment of its name for, say, a cen- 

 tury, or half a century, should not be liable to eviction under the 

 common law of priority." 



Now, in the first place I wish to emphasize that a law, may it 

 be ever so good, will never bring the longed-for result, unless en- 

 forced rigorously ; that is, without exception. If the law prohibi- 

 ting changes of names which have been in use for fifty years, 

 shall be applied to changes proposed by me, it must also be 

 applied to changes proposed by other authors. If v\'e take the 

 two leading lists of North American birds, Coues's and Ridg- 



* Proc. U. S. Nat. Mns. V, 1882, pp. 28-43. 



