A check list of North American birds

Abstract

or ignorance were discovered in our habitual use of names.It was therefore determined to submit the current catalogue of North American birds to a rigid examination, with reference to the spelling, pronunciation, and derivation of every name, in short, to revise the list from a philological as well as an ornithological standpoint.The present "Check List," therefore, differs from the original edition in so far as, instead of being a bare catalogue of names, it consists in a treatise on the et}'- mology, orthography, and orthoepy of all the scientific, and many of the vernacular, words employed in the nomenclature of North American birds.Nothing of the sort has been done before, to the same extent at any rate ; and it is confidently expected that the information given here will prove useful to many who, however familiar they may be with the appearance of these names on paper, have comparatively little notion of the derivation, signification, and application of the words ; and who unwittingly speak them as they usually hear them pronounced, that is to say, with glaring impropriety.No one who adds a degree of classical proficiency to his scientific acquirements, be the latter never so extensive, can fail to handle the tools of thought with an ease and precision so greatly enhanced, that the merit of ornitho- logical exactitude may be adorned with the charm of scholarly elegance.The purpose of the present " Check List" is thus distinctly seen to be twofold :First, to present a complete list of the birds now known to inhabit North America, north of Mexico, and including Greenland, to classify them systematically, and to name them conformably with current rules of nomenclature ; these being ornitho- logical matters of science.Second!}', to take each word occurring in such technical usage, explain its derivation, significance, and application, spell it correctly, and indicate its pronunciation with the usual diacritical marks ; these being purely philological matters, affecting not the scientific status of any bird, but the classical questions involved in its name.In the latter portion of his task, which, as is always the case when thorough work of any kind is undertaken, proved to be more difficult and more protracted than had been expected, and delayed the appearance of the list for nearly a year after the ornithological portion had been practically completed, the author of the original list has received invaluable assistance from Mrs. S. OLIVIA WESTON-AIKEN, who cordially shared with him the labor of the philological investigation, and to whose scholarly attainments he is so largely indebted, that it is