402 
DIVERS. 
School” of ornithologists are nothing if not “separatists,” and by- 
separating forms which appear to them to have gained the right to 
distinct and separate recognition, the A. O. U. are proving their 
right to the title of " pioneers of modern ornithological science,” 
criven them by an illustrious European savant. 
^ Whether the path which these “pioneers” are blazing — with 
its unbending adherence to a tixed line, over whatever difficulty it 
may lead — will be followed strictly by future systeraatists, is a 
debatable question; but followed strictly or but partiallj, the 
present generation of American ornithologists have established 
themselves among the leaders of the science, and the influence^ of 
their determinations is acknowledged wherever birds are studied 
or described. 
1 will not pretend to be in full sympathy with all of the separating 
that has been attempted, nor of all that has been accepted. There 
will be, doubtless, a revision of the present system, — nay, many 
revisions; ornithology is in its infancy yet. 1 follow the American 
school because an amateur writer must follow somebody, we 
have had too many unskilled hands tinkering with systematic 
work. I follow the Americans also because 1 am doing American 
work for American readers, and the use of the A. O. U. system of 
classification and nomenclature will avoid confusion. I follow this 
system for another reason : I consider it the best that has as yet 
been issued ; and so 1 give to Briinnich’s Murre specific instead 
of varietal rank. 
This bird does not differ in habits from its congeners. During 
the winter it lives on the open sea, and in the breeding-season 
assembles in large flocks on bold cliffs and rocky headlands. It is 
an expert diver, using wings and feet to get under water and to 
swim through it. 
