PREFACE. 
Dr. J. M. Wheaton transmitted his monumental “Report 
on the Birds of Ohio” to Prof. J. S. Newberry, Chief Geol- 
ogist of Ohio, on November 1, 1879. It was finally printed 
by the state and distributed in 1882. One year later, at the 
first Congress of American Ornithologists’ Union, held in 
New York, September 26-29, 1883, a committee was ap- 
pointed to whom was referred the question of revising the 
classification and nomenclature of the Birds of North Amer- 
ica. That committee’s work was completed, accepted, and 
the results printed in a Check-List* early in 1886. Until 
the publication of this Check-List there had been no uni- 
formity in the nomenclature of birds, each author practically 
building his own system. Dr. Wheaton adopted, in a some- 
what modified form, “The nomenclature...... of Dr. 
(Elliot E.) Coues in his Check-List of North American 
Birds,” published in 1874. That system followed the cus- 
toms of the time by beginning with the highest and ending 
with the lowest forms. The nomenclature adopted by the 
committee of the American Ornithologists’ Union* turned 
the old system about, beginning with the lowest and ending 
with the highest forms, as they were then regarded. Seven 
years after the completion of his work and four years after 
its publication, therefore, the nomenclature of Dr. Wheaton 
became obsolete, for the new nomenclature found immediate 
acceptance the country over, and has since been the working 
basis of all American Ornithologists. 
The need of a Revised Catalogue of the Birds of Ohio 
has been sorely felt, chiefly that the nomenclature might be 
uniform with that of all more recent publications on Orni- 
thology. The score of years which have elapsed since Dr. 
Wheaton’s Catalogue was issued have seen other changes 
*The A. O. U. Check-List of North American Birds, for sale 
by L. S. Foster, 30 Pine street, New York City. 
