January and February, 1919.
=Ottawa= Naturalist, The, XXXII, Nos. 5 and 6, November and December,
1919.
=Proceedings= and Transactions Nova Scotia Institute of Science, XIV,
Part 3 (August, 1918.)
=Revue= Française d’Ornithologie, X, Nos. 114-116, October-December,
1918.
=Scottish= Naturalist, The, Nos. 83 and 84, November and December, 1918.
=Wilson=, Bulletin, The, XXX, No. 4, December, 1918.
CORRESPONDENCE
IDENTIFICATIONS.
(CHARACTERS VS. GEOGRAPHY).
EDITOR OF ‘THE AUK’;
We are between two horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, _vide_ Dr.
Dwight, how can we verify a specimen as subspecies “x” unless it
carries the distinguishing marks by which “x” is characterized?
Subspecific and other similar distributions must be founded upon
observed differences in specimens; to reverse the process and identify
specimens geographically without regard to characters neither adds to
nor verifies existing knowledge and is reasoning in a vicious circle.
It can confirm error but never correct it.
On the other hand, as Dr. Grinnell points out, taxonomic relationship
descends genetically. An individual is form “y” because it comes of
“y” parentage, not because it happens to show certain peculiarities of
form or color. Just as distribution maps must be based upon exhibited
characters, so genesis is more fundamental than appearance or form
which manifestations may at any time be obscured by atavism, mutation
or migration. The very fact that a certain subspecies exists in some
part of a specific range is indicative that it is a possible variation
in that species and suggests a certain tendency in that direction
latent in every individual of that specific form. We can therefore
expect, every now and then, to find individuals of pure “x” blood
resembling, in varying degree, “y” of the same species. To name such
a specimen “y” is as logical as calling a Viceroy butterfly a Monarch
because it superficially resembles one. On these points, Dr. Grinnell
is as sound as Dr. Dwight is on his.
The flaw in Dr. Grinnell’s reasoning is however in his advising the
geographical identification of aberrant specimens on the assumption
that genetic and geographical relationship are synonymous. Dealing with
stationary forms of life, such as plants, proximity of station is only
strong presumptive evidence of genetic affinity. With mobile birds such
probability is tremendously reduced. With Scissor-tailed Flycatchers
from Hudson Bay and Black-capped Petrels from the Mississippi Valley
it is evident that community of association is only presumptive of
community of descent and that geography is an uncertain guide to
identification.
Dr. Grinnell pleads for the exercise of “the judgment based upon
experience—just as is needed in any other advanced field of knowledge.”
No one will quarrel with him over the value of this necessary
qualification of decision. The only question is where shall it be used?
Is not the first duty of the scientific investigator the elimination
of the human equation in the statement of fact? In the deductions
drawn therefrom full scope must be allowed for the genius of skilled
intuition but a sharp dividing line must always be drawn between
ascertained demonstrable facts and hypotheses.
The truth is, we cannot with absolute certainty identify every specimen
we study. Why then deceive ourselves and mislead others by making a
bluff at doing the impossible? Why not own up honestly and admit that
we cannot name such material? We may state that we think it is so and
so and where necessary give reasons for the conclusion, but to pass
as fact what is only opinion is not the spirit of modern science.
The logical solution of the problem is to name subspecifically only
such specimens as are humanly demonstrable and use the binomial for
the rest. In other words reverse usual practice and instead of using
the trinomial regularly and the binomial on occasion use the binomial
generally and the trinomial only where necessity or the facts justify
its use.
P. A. TAVERNER.
Museum Geological Survey,
Ottawa, Ont., Dec. 27, 1918.
[While there are some points in favor of Mr. Taverner’s plan, which by
the way he has put into practice in his article on ‘The Birds of the
Red Deer River’ in this and the preceding numbers of ‘The Auk,’ there
are others which count against it.
First of all we must realize that the practice of duplicating the
specific name when referring to the earliest subspecies of a group—i.
e. _Melospiza melodia melodia_—is by no means universally adopted,
and in very many recent papers and all of those of earlier date the
binomial _Melospiza melodia_ is used for the first described race and
trinomials for the others. Now Mr. Taverner would use this binomial for
_some one race_ (seen but not positively determined) of _M. melodia_.
In the A. O. U. ‘Check-List’ the same binomial is used to indicate the
whole group of subspecies of Song Sparrows collectively. Hence we have
three different concepts which we try to denote by one expression.
In an index these are hopelessly confused and we are likely to miss
valuable information about some form that we are investigating because
it is masquerading under some specific name where we would never think
of looking for it.
Now as we have in current use a form of name to indicate just what Mr.
Taverner has in mind, why not stick to it—i. e. _Melospiza melodia_
subsp.? This would avoid all ambiguity. As his practice stands I find
it is quite misunderstood, as all of those of whom I inquired, and who
had not read Mr. Taverner’s published views on the subject, thought
that he was simply following Mr. Leverett M. Loomis in abandoning
subspecies entirely.
Another difficulty presents itself when we try to follow out Mr.
Taverner’s plan in the matter of closely related _species_. There are
many species that so closely resemble one another that differentiation
would be impossible in the field should they happen to occur together.
Now Mr. Taverner in his efforts to avoid every possible mistake refuses
to designate the subspecies of the American Magpie because there are
European races of the bird which would be indistinguishable from
it should they happen to occur here. At the same time he does not
hesitate to name the Titlark, _Anthus rubescens_, although he would
find it equally difficult to distinguish it from the European _A.
spinoletta_—of which indeed Dr. Oberholser considers it a subspecies.
So with the Bittern, Solitary Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, etc.,
etc., which closely resemble species in other parts of the world. Now
if it is permissible to “guess” at these _species_ why not guess the
subspecies also, where we are reasonably certain of them, and use the
form I have indicated above in cases where we are on the borderland
between races or where winter flocks may contain more than one
subspecies?
If we should collect several specimens of a bird that was widely
distributed over the region we were exploring it would seem absurd not
to infer that all were the same form, and record them as common—though
we should really be _absolutely certain_ of only the few that had been
shot.
As a matter of fact it is possible to make a misidentification in the
case of almost any sight record and we also make misidentifications
when we have specimens actually in hand, while every reviser of a group
has a different opinion as to the disposition of specimens from certain
regions. Therefore it should be clear that no system of names will
ensure absolute accuracy.
In view of all this why not follow previous custom and make our
identifications generic, specific and subspecific where the evidence
points with reasonable clearness; using “sp.?” or “subsp.?” where there
is a real doubt?
Nomenclature is now bearing about all the burdens it will stand and
with the excessive multiplication of genera, the establishment of
several different kinds of intergradation, the proposed revision in the
forms of names according as they are regarded as adjectives or nouns—it
is rapidly weakening both in utility and stability, and ere long we
may be in danger of a collapse of the whole cumbersome system!—WITMER
STONE.]
NOTES AND NEWS.
DR. FREDERICK DUCANE GODMAN, one of the original Honorary Fellows of
the American Ornithologists’ Union, a past president of the British
Ornithologists’ Union and famous as one of the authors of the ‘Biologia
Centrali Americana,’ died at his home in England on February 19, 1919,
aged 85 years.
Dr. Godman was born on January 15, 1834, and was educated at Eton and
Trinity College, Cambridge. At college he met Osbert Salvin and the
two developed an intimate friendship which was broken only by Salvin’s
death in 1898. There were other college friends too, all of them
interested in ornithology and they used to meet for comparison of notes
and specimens. This led to the formation in 1857 in the rooms of Alfred
Newton, of the British Ornithologists’ Union.
Entomology and Botany also engaged Godman’s attention and a trip
with Salvin to Jamaica, Belize and Guatemala, in 1861, resulted in
the collecting of a large amount of natural history material. They
united their collections and began preparations for the great work on
the natural history of Central America which has been ever closely
associated with their names—the ‘Biologia Centrali Americana’ the
first parts of which appeared in 1878. Godman with a corps of expert
collectors visited Mexico in 1888 in the interests of this work,
while at various times he made trips to different parts of Europe,
and North Africa. He published a work on the Azores in which islands
he had travelled extensively and was also author of numerous articles
in ‘The Ibis’ and other scientific journals. During his later life he
was more interested in entomology, pursuing extensive studies in the
Lepidoptera, but joined with Dr. Bowdler Sharpe in 1907 in getting out
a Monograph of the Petrels, a work which his friend Salvin had always
had in mind.
Dr. Godman was deeply interested in hunting and fishing and his great
diversion from his more serious work was horticulture. He served both
as Secretary and President of the B. O. U. and was a trustee of the
British Museum. His death leaves but one of the original Honorary
Fellows of the A. O. U., Count Salvadori.—W. S.
ROBERT DAY HOYT, a pioneer naturalist and bird collector in Florida,
died at his home at Seven Oaks, near Clearwater, Florida, on November
23, 1918. Although never a member of the American Ornithologists’
Union, he possessed a wide knowledge of Florida birds and through his
collections contributed much to the advancement of ornithology in that
State.
Mr. Hoyt was born in New York City, November 18, 1857. When he was
about eighteen years of age, his parents moved to Madison, New Jersey.
He early developed a love for the outdoors and the living creatures
about him. When still quite young he became acquainted with David
Dickenson, of Chatham, New Jersey, and from him learned the art of
taxidermy. He then went to Florida on a collecting trip and spent
several weeks camping with his father on the St. Johns River, the
Oklawaha, and Silver Springs. He continued to visit the State every
winter thereafter until 1881, when he moved to Clearwater and bought
the place at Seven Oaks where he lived the rest of his life.
He improved every opportunity to collect natural history material and
amassed a considerable collection of mounted birds, birds’ skins, and
birds’ eggs, which is now in the Florida State Museum at Gainesville.
He was a skilled taxidermist and his services were always in demand
for such work. He mounted a large number of birds for Mr. John Lewis
Childs, of Floral Park, New York, most of which are now in the Brooklyn
(N. Y.) Museum.
Unfortunately, Mr. Hoyt found little time or inclination to publish the
results of his observations. Following is a list of the only papers by
him known to the writer:
1905. Nesting of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Florida
(_Campephilus principalis_). The Warbler (2nd Series),
I, No. 2, pp. 52-55, 1 plate. Nesting of Ward’s Heron
(_Ardea herodias wardi_). Ibid., I, No. 4, pp. 114-115.
1906. Nesting of the Roseate Spoonbill in Florida. Ibid., II, No. 3,
pp. 58-59.
1918. The American Robin in its northern migration, Feb. 15, 1915,
in Pinellas County, Fla. The Oölogist, XXXV, pp. 6, 9;
2 plates.
Mr. Hoyt is survived by his widow, two sons, and two daughters.
A. H. H.
THE Museum of the California Academy of Sciences has recently acquired
by gift the entire ornithological and oölogical collection of Messrs.
Joseph and John W. Mailliard, prominent business men of San Francisco,
and Fellow and Member respectively of the American Ornithologists’
Union.
The collection contains close to 25,000 specimens, and is primarily a
research collection. Of bird skins there are more than 11,000 specimens
representing 777 species; of nests and eggs there are upwards of 13,000
specimens representing more than 600 species.
The Mailliard brothers have been interested in birds from their
boyhood days, and these collections are the result of more than forty
years of careful, painstaking field work. There are perhaps few, if
any, collections that have been made with greater care or in which a
greater percentage of the specimens have real scientific value. In the
ornithological collection are some of the first reliable records of
several species of California birds, as well as the only specimens of
other species from localities where they are now unknown. There are
also many albino specimens of unusual interest, and several remarkable
hybrids. Of certain forms the series are the most complete of any
collection in America. In the oölogical collection there are large,
carefully selected series of species now difficult or impossible to
obtain.
The Messrs. Mailliard are members of the Cooper Ornithological Club
and are both actively interested in the California Academy, John W.
Mailliard being a trustee and Joseph Mailliard honorary curator of
birds in the Academy’s Museum.
The Academy is certainly to be congratulated upon securing this
valuable collection, which, added to those already in its possession
puts this institution in the front rank in the field of ornithology and
oölogy in western America.
NOW that the war is over and travelling becomes possible again a number
of collectors are in the field. Roy Chapman Andrews of the American
Museum of Natural History has returned to China to continue his work
there, and Mr. Klages, the well-known bird collector, is making a trip
through French Guiana to the Amazon. On February 26, Capt. William
Beebe left New York with a party, which will establish themselves at
the Tropical Research Station of the New York Zoölogical Society in
British Guiana, where work of much importance will be carried on.
IN view of the constantly increasing interest in ornithology and the
increasing difficulty in obtaining specimens, it seems highly desirable
that more information should be accessible regarding the extent and
character of the larger collections of the United States and Canada.
The student would thus have a better idea as to what material is
available while museums and individual collectors by making known their
desiderata would perhaps be enabled to fill their gaps.
One important collection has just been completely checked up and at our
request the owner, Mr. J. H. Fleming of Toronto, has kindly given us
his figures. This is one of the largest private collections and covers
the birds of the entire world—a most commendable feature. We learn
that it comprises about 25,000 specimens representing 5,377 species
and 1,925 genera, as recognized in Sharpe’s ‘Hand List.’ When we note
that there are, according to this authority, some 17,000 species of
birds and 2,647 genera, we realize that Mr. Fleming has about one third
of the known species and three fourths of the genera represented, the
latter being evidence of the painstaking care that he has exercised in
bringing together this notable series of specimens.
IN the Philadelphia Zoölogical Garden at the present time is a
Naked-throated Bell-bird in full “song” if its peculiar calls may be so
termed. These vocal efforts resemble exactly the strokes of a hammer on
an anvil, the peculiar resonance of the ringing metal being perfectly
reproduced.
There is also a specimen of the curious Kagu (_Rhinochetus jubatus_)
of New Caledonia, the original type of which was sent to the Colonial
Exhibition at Paris in 1860 by Mons. Latour, and described by Jules
Verreaux. We do not know whether there are any specimens of this bird
in any American Museum but there are none in either the U. S. National
Museum or the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences.
The Kagu is closely related to the Sun Bittern (_Eurypyga helias_)
though in appearance it looks more like a small pale gray heron. It is
regarded as a very ancient and generalized type, with relationship to
the Rails and Trumpeters.
We understand that another specimen is living in the New York
Zoölogical Park.
WE learn from ‘The Emu’ that the annual meeting of the Royal
Australasian Ornithologists’ Union was held in Melbourne, December
4, 1918, and was attended by eighteen members, exactly as many as
were present at the business meeting of the A. O. U. in November. The
officers elected were A. F. Basset Hull of Sydney, President; W. H.
D. Le Soeuf, Hon. Secretary; Z. Gray, Hon. Treasurer; and Dr. J. A.
Leach, Hon. Editor of ‘The Emu.’ The R. A. O. U. has had 39 members
in military service of whom 5 lost their lives during the past year.
The Union maintains a room at Temple Court in Melbourne where it keeps
its library and collections including the celebrated White and Austin
collections of Australian birds’ eggs. Well attended conversaziones are
held at its room on the first Wednesday in each month and quarterly
meetings at the National Museum. The report of the treasurer shows that
the assets of the Union amount to over $9000.
THE collection of birds in the U. S. National Museum has recently
passed the 200,000 mark. This collection has doubled since 1884 when
the number of specimens reached 100,000 (see ‘The Auk,’ 1884, p. 403).
In this connection it is interesting to recall that the British Museum
collection was said to have contained 500,000 specimens ten years ago
(Ibis, 9th ser., II. Jub. Suppl. p. 4, 1909).
THE Treasurer reports that less than forty copies of the last edition
of the ‘Check-List of North American Birds,’ published in 1910, now
remain on hand. Members who have not secured copies should do so at
once as libraries are constantly ordering the book and the stock will
doubtless soon be exhausted. It will probably be several years before
another edition of the ‘Check-List’ is issued.
AT the recent session of Congress two new National Parks were
established on areas previously set aside as National Monuments. These
parks are the Grand Canyon in Arizona and the Lafayette National Park
on Mt. Desert Island on the coast of Maine. The latter reservation was
previously known as the Sieur de Monts National Monument. This action
will insure greater protection of the wild life and we hope will result
in the publication at an early date of information concerning the birds
of these interesting regions.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF A. O. U. MEMBERSHIP.—As shown by the list
published in this number of ‘The Auk’ the A. O. U. now has members in
all of the states except three (Arkansas, Delaware and Mississippi),
and also in Alaska, Hawaii, the Philippines and Samoa, as well as in
all of the provinces of Canada except Alberta and Nova Scotia.
The foreign members, known as Honorary and Corresponding Fellows,
number 85 and are widely distributed in all parts of the world. In
America they are located in Cuba, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil,
and Argentina; in Europe in all of the principal countries except
Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the Balkan States;
and in Africa in South Rhodesia and Transvaal. The Union also has
representatives in Ceylon, Japan, the Federated Malay States, British
Papua, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria.—T. S. P.
THE American Game Protective Association, the sportsmen’s national
organization, has done excellent work in branding as erroneous
an Associated Press Dispatch to the effect that the Supreme
Court at Washington has declared the Federal Migratory bird law
unconstitutional. From their statement the country has been informed
that “the so-called Federal Migratory bird law was repealed on July 3,
1917, when the President signed the Canadian treaty enabling act.” The
new measure which superseded the old one is a better and bigger law
with exactly the same object in view. It provides what the former law
lacked, an efficient machinery for its enforcement, and the governments
of this country and Canada are now squarely united in the protection of
all the birds of the continent north of the Rio Grande.
“What happened at Washington was that the solicitor-general asked to
have dismissed his own motion before the Supreme Court, which was to
test the constitutionality of the original migratory bird law. It was
no use arguing the case, because there is no longer any Weeks-McLean
law.
“The federal regulations, therefore, which absolutely protect in this
country the birds which are valuable to agriculture and which make open
seasons for the migratory birds which are shot for sport, are still in
effect and the Federal Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute
any violations of these regulations.”
THE Delaware Valley Ornithological Club is endeavoring to collect all
existing data bearing upon the birds of Eastern Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and Delaware. Information relative to any manuscript lists of
early migration records, or published matter in out of the way places,
will be gratefully received.
W. L. MCATEE wishes to announce that he has undertaken as a hobby the
preparation of a dictionary of vernacular names applied to A. O. U.
checklist birds. As the project involves the examination of practically
the whole ornithological literature of America, the main purpose of
this announcement is to elicit information as to whether the field
is clear. It would be a great waste of time to have the same ground
covered by more than one person.
Mr. McAtee has been collecting data of this nature for many years,
and has published two glossaries of unusual bird names. He has also
recently had the good fortune to receive for examination, through the
courtesy of Mrs. Gurdon Trumbull and Mr. Samuel Scoville, Jr., the
manuscript notes prepared by Gurdon Trumbull, for a second edition
of his “Names and Portraits of Birds.” Still more recently, Mrs.
Trumbull has with the greatest generosity turned over to him this book
together with all of Mr. Trumbull’s miscellaneous notes on the habits
and names of birds. This material will eventually be deposited in
the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. Mr. McAtee will
welcome suggestions relating to the whole project, and contributions,
especially of unusual local names of birds.
THE Delaware Valley Ornithological Club held its twenty-ninth annual
meeting at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia in
January, 1919. Officers elected were President, J. Fletcher Street,
Vice-President, George H. Stuart 3d, Secretary Julian K. Potter and
Treasurer, Samuel C. Palmer. Thirteen meetings were held during the
year with an average attendance of twenty-two. Twenty-seven members
entered the National Service during the war and one, Archibald Benners,
1st Lieut. Marines, was killed July 3, 1918.
American Ornithologists’ Union
Check-List of North American Birds
Last Edition, 1910
Cloth, 8vo, pp. 430 and two maps of North America, one a colored,
faunal zone map, and one a locality map.