46 Ornithology. 
birds so soon abandon it for almost any other branch of natural 
history. 
It may be stated that until quite recently the obstacles to 
the study of systematic ornithology have been nearly insur¬ 
mountable to the tyro amateur, for the formidable reason that 
no text-books could be obtained in this country, and when 
systematists began to supply this deficiency in some degree, 
instead of relief, the perplexities seemed only to have com¬ 
menced, for each author discovered such glaring deftcts in the 
classification of his predecessors that he was emboldened to 
attempt a better one. This brought new nomenclature, which 
thus accumulated until, in a short time this embryotic science 
was near being suffocated under a confusing mass of synonymy. 
Even at the present time authorities are so divided upon class¬ 
ification and nomenclature that itis exceedingly difficult to elect 
any one as a more reliable guide through the labyrinth of our 
perplexities. Yet this is the best we can do, until further in¬ 
vestigations shall give us a true key to a natural system. 
A passing glance at the history of the methods of 4 classifica¬ 
tion may not here be out of place. It is quite probable that 
most of the members of the Academy have never heretofore 
made the science of ornithology a study, and perhaps in the 
distribution of our work may find themselves too much engaged 
with some other deparment of research to give this a special 
attention. If we rightly apprehend the design of this organi¬ 
zation it embraces the plan of a general exchange of the pro¬ 
ducts of our labors in all departments of research within the 
scope of our investigations. Hence the importance of, at least, 
a cursory reviewal of the history of these methods, and no 
apology is necessary for our failure to give the authorities which 
we draw upon, as we can do little more than to carefully epit¬ 
omize those which are accessible to all who have the taste, time, 
and temper to wade through the tangled labyrinths of our 
ornithological literature. Suffice it to say that a few weeks 
spent among the archives of the Academy of Natural Science 
at Philadelphia, has not diminished our impressions of the labor 
thus required, yet the task is a pleasing—indeed a fascinating 
one. And volumes in this department are multiplying far 
