8 ILLINOIS AUDUBON’ BU Dit wie 
Mississippi River, with 91 species; Williamson County, including Crab 
Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, also with 91; and Union County, just 
north of Alexander County on the Mississippi, with 82. 
Both Champaign and Vermilion Counties made good use of canoes in 
their counts. Other groups with suitable streams may want to consider this 
method of reaching good habitat areas that may be inaccessible by foot or car. 
524 Nathan Road, Park Forest South, Ill. 60466 
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Count Editor’s Note: In recent years, the frequent changes in nomenclature 
of certain birds, and the repeated gyrations of the American Ornithologists’ 
Union in defining whether a species is a certain bird or a group of sub- 
species, have complicated the already complex job of putting together a 
bird count table. As originally made up, our table for the 1974 Christmas 
Count contained 163 entries—not including the totals at the bottom—plus 
5 species listed as “seen during count period, but not on count day.” To 
condense a table that could not possibly fit on two pages from top to bottom, 
we combined many birds, such as Snow Geese with “Blue Geese sub- 
species,” using parentheses to indicate the subspecies, and showing the 
total of the “ruling” species plus subspecies at the right. 
Similarly, “Slate-colored” and “Oregon” Juncoes were all combined as 
“Dark-eyed Juncoes”’; ‘Gambel’s” with the other “White-crowned Spar- 
rows’, and so on. Twelve different “species” were combined with the most 
appropriate type, as “scaup species” with the more common Lesser Scaup; 
“merganser species” with Common Merganser, etc. Hence we listed an 
actual count of 144 species, and Kit Struthers pointed out that this was | 
“7 more” than in 1973. 
But when we examine last year’s table, we discover that there were 
153 actual entries. By deducting 5 species marked X (meaning not seen on 
count day) and 11 listed as “something, species’ we came to the claimed 
total of 137 species. Gets confusing, doesn’t it? 
Now, examining the printed Report Form supplied by National Audubon 
Society (which most compilers used for submitting their counts), we are 
startled to find that it does not correspond to the “official” list of American 
species published last year by the Ornithologists’ Union. Thus, instead of 
the one species, “Common Flicker” recognized by A.O.U., National Audubon 
provides entries for Common Flicker, Common Flicker (Red. sh.), Common 
Flicker (Yel.-sh.), and Common Flicker (Gilded). Instead of the official 
“Dark-eyed Junco” of the A.O.U., National Audubon shows three listings: 
Dark-eyed (W.-w.) Junco; Dark-eyed (Slate-col.) Junco; and Dark-eyed 
(Oregon) Junco—and further down, the entry: “Junco, sp.” Altogether, the 
Report Form of National Audubon lists 35 of the catch-all designations: 
“..., species.” When neither of the “final authority” bodies of the orni- 
thological world can agree on what we should call certain birds, where can 
the Common “Bird Watcher, American species” turn? 
In all seriousness, we would appreciate hearing from you regarding 
your preference about listing the X-rated species in our table—this year, 
the White Pelican, Harlequin Duck, Snowy Owl, Palm Warbler, and 
Yellow-headed Blackbird—which were seen during the count period, but 
not on the actual count day. We favor leaving these OUT of the table, 
and merely describing them under the commentary for the applicable Sta- 
tion Reports. Any objections? 
