The American Ornithologists' Union 145 



through the work of this committee alone one of the primary objects 

 in view in founding the Union was most happily accomplished. Not 

 only a new check-list of North American birds was substituted for 

 all previous check-lists, but a new 'Code of Nomenclature' was 

 devised and adopted as the basis for determining the names to be 

 used in the check-list. After more than two years of work by the 

 committee the check-list, with its code of nomenclature, was given 

 to the world in 1886, and became at once the accepted standard of 

 authority with all American writers on North American birds ; the 

 ' Code' included important innovations in respect to certain principles 

 of nomenclature, which have since become very generally accepted 

 the world over. It is, therefore, to be regretted that a small faction 

 has recently arisen in the ranks of the Union, that, objecting to cer- 

 tain rules of the 'Code,' is seeking to foment a break in the good 

 feeling and harmony that have marked the last ten or twelve years of 

 the history of American ornithology. 



A second purpose of the Union was, as already intimated, to bring 

 into cooperation and into personal acquaintanceship as many as pos- 

 sible of the workers in ornithology. In effecting this, the appointment 

 at the first congress of the Union of a Committee on the Migration 

 of North American Birds proved a most efficient means. This com- 

 mittee, with Dr. C. Hart Merriam at its head, began at once to issue 

 circulars of instruction and schedules for the return of data to all 

 bird observers known to the committee, whether members of the 

 Union or not. Thousands of circulars were thus issued annually, 

 reaching hundreds of earnest bird students who had before been 

 working alone and without contact with the leaders in the science, 

 who were thus not only stimulated and encouraged to fresh endeavor, 

 but were placed in commimication with a central bureau ever ready 

 to aid their efforts. In a short time the work of this committee out- 

 grew the financial resources of the Union, and led to the founding of 

 a distinct division of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 designated the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy, 

 of which the chairman of this committee was invited to become the 

 official head, and which has since become the United States Bio- 

 logical Surve}'. The data on the migration and geographical distri- 

 bution of North American birds gathered by this committee was 

 turned over to this new Division of the Department of Agriculture 

 for collation and publication, and the work of collecting further data 

 was continued on an increased scale by the Chief of the Division of 

 Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy. This has resulted in the 

 accumulation of an immense amount of valuable material, but little 

 of which has as yet been published. In 1888 a preliminary report 



