CHECK List oF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 

Norse. — The species are numbered consecutively from 1 to 635. 
Stragglers have the number in brackets. Varieties bear the number 
of the species to which they belong, with a, b, c, etc., unless a variety 
is our only representative of the Species, when it is separately enu- 
merated. Obscure or doubtful species are marked with a note of 
interrogation after the number. Each species is followed by the 
original describer’s name; when this is not also the authority for 
the nomenclature adopted the name of such authority is added, the 
former being retained in parenthesis. A similar practice is observed 
in the cases of varieties ; when, as in most instances, they were origi- 
nally described as species they are followed by the authority for their 
reduction to varieties, as well as by the name of the describer; the 
latter in parenthesis. 
The List contains a very few species discovered since the ‘‘ Key” 
was printed; otherwise, it is an exact reflection of that work, the 
arrangement and nomenclature being identical. The numbers of the 
genera as used in the Key are given in the head lines of the List in 
order to facilitate reference. j 
Authors are at variance in the formation of the genitive of Latinized 
proper names; in the absence of any universally observed rule, euphony 
may perhaps be advantageously consulted. In the Key, the 7 was 
doubled in all cases of words ending in a consonant, the nominative 
being considered to end in -ius ; this practice is preferably applicable 
to monosyllables, as Bairdii, and polysyllables, as Audubonii. But it 
is necessary to use Single 7 in words ending in 7, as Coopert, and best 
to do so in most cases of dissyllables, as Wilsoni, Cassini, Swainsoni. 
The same is the case with all words ending in a vowel. 
The following are the abbreviations used for authors’ names occur- 
ring most frequently; others are for the most part written in full :— 
All., Allen; Aud., Audubon; Bd., Baird; Bodd., Boddaert; Bp., Bona- 
parte; Cab., Cabanis; Cass., Cassin; Cs., Coues; Gamb., Gambel; Gm., 
Gmelin; Gr., Gray; L., Linneus; Lafr., Lafresnaye; Lath., Latham; 
Lawr., Lawrence; Licht., Lichtenstein; Nutt., Nuttall; Reich., Reich- 
enbach; Ridg., Ridgway; Scl., Sclater; Steph., Stephens; Sw., Swain- 
son; Zemm., Temminck; TYowns., Townsend; V., Vieillot; Vig., 
Vigors; Wagl., Wagler; Wils., Wilson. 

