Bird-Lore, Volume I—1899

by Various

During the sixteen years that have passed since the founding of the American Ornithologists' Union, in August, 1883, the study of North American birds has advanced with constantly accelerated strides. That this progress has been due largely to the founding of the Union is beyond denial, as will become evident from the following brief history of its work and the causes that led to its formation.

In all lines of human endeavor, the union of kindred interests and individual effort toward a common end is the key to success. Before the founding of the American Ornithologists' Union, its nucleus existed in a local organization of bird students in Cambridge, known as the Nuttall Ornithological Club. At first its meetings were informal, and its membership was limited to a few individuals living in the immediate vicinity of Cambridge. Later it became regularly organized as a club, with both resident and corresponding members, the latter embracing most of the leading ornithologists of this country. The papers presented at its meetings were often of permanent value, and were later published in scientific journals. In 1876 these had become sufficiently numerous and important to warrant the club in establishing its own medium of publication, the first number bearing date April, 1876, with the title 'Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club.' As years passed it served not only as the official organ of the club, but as a medium of communication between American ornithologists at large.

This led to the consideration of the desirability of organizing a national society of ornithologists as a means of bringing the workers in this field into more intimate association and more thoroughly consolidating their interests. The advantages of such consolidation seemed so evident that a call was issued August 1, 1883, dated Cambridge and Washington, for "a convention of American Ornithologists, to be held in New York city, beginning September 26, 1883." The call was signed by the editor of the 'Nuttall Bulletin' (J. A. Allen), associate editor of the 'Nuttall Bulletin' (Elliott Coues), and the president of the Nuttall Club (William Brewster). The response to the call, sent to forty-eight of the more prominent ornithologists of the United States and Canada, was most cordial; twenty-five expressed their intention to attend the convention, and twenty-one were actually present, including several who came a thousand miles or more to attend the convention. Not only were by-laws adopted and officers duly elected, but, as will be noticed later, important lines of work were laid out and assigned to committees, the principle of coöperation being applied in a broad sense.

The Nuttall Ornithological Club is still an active and widely known organization, although upon the founding of the Union, it generously voted to discontinue its 'Bulletin' and to place its subscription list and good will at the service of the Union, which was already considering the desirability of establishing an official medium of publication. As a result, the 'Nuttall Bulletin' became 'The Auk,' which, in recognition of the generous action of the Nuttall Club, was officially designated as the second series of the 'Nuttall Bulletin.'

Between isolated workers in any field, jealousies and misunderstandings arise which personal contact tends to obliterate. Such was the case with our ornithologists for some years prior to the founding of the Union. There were two rival check-lists of North American birds, each perhaps equally authoritative though differing in important details, which led to confusion, and a tendency to array our ornithologists into two somewhat hostile camps. This being recognized as a threatening evil of considerable gravity, one of the first acts of the Union was to appoint a committee on the Classification and Nomenclature of North American Birds, so constituted as to include the most competent authorities on the subject and at the same time safeguard all conflicting interests. The work of this committee long since became a matter of history. It was conducted with the utmost conscientiousness and care; personal interests and personal bias were generously waived, differences of opinion were settled by appeal to facts and the evidence, with a result that agreement was established in respect to all points of nomenclature and other technicalities, and a new impetus given to systematic investigation. Thus, through the work of this committee alone one of the primary objects in view in founding the Union was most happily accomplished. Not only a new check-list of North American birds was substituted for all previous check-lists, but a new 'Code of Nomenclature' was devised and adopted as the basis for determining the names to be used in the check-list. After more than two years of work by the committee the check-list, with its code of nomenclature, was given to the world in 1886, and became at once the accepted standard of authority with all American writers on North American birds; the 'Code' included important innovations in respect to certain principles of nomenclature, which have since become very generally accepted the world over. It is, therefore, to be regretted that a small faction has recently arisen in the ranks of the Union, that, objecting to certain rules of the 'Code,' is seeking to foment a break in the good feeling and harmony that have marked the last ten or twelve years of the history of American ornithology.

A second purpose of the Union was, as already intimated, to bring into coöperation and into personal acquaintanceship as many as possible of the workers in ornithology. In effecting this, the appointment at the first congress of the Union of a Committee on the Migration of North American Birds proved a most efficient means. This committee, with Dr. C. Hart Merriam at its head, began at once to issue circulars of instruction and schedules for the return of data to all bird observers known to the committee, whether members of the Union or not. Thousands of circulars were thus issued annually, reaching hundreds of earnest bird students who had before been working alone and without contact with the leaders in the science, who were thus not only stimulated and encouraged to fresh endeavor, but were placed in communication with a central bureau ever ready to aid their efforts. In a short time the work of this committee outgrew the financial resources of the Union, and led to the founding of a distinct division of the United States Department of Agriculture, designated the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy, of which the chairman of this committee was invited to become the official head, and which has since become the United States Biological Survey. The data on the migration and geographical distribution of North American birds gathered by this committee was turned over to this new Division of the Department of Agriculture for collation and publication, and the work of collecting further data was continued on an increased scale by the Chief of the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy. This has resulted in the accumulation of an immense amount of valuable material, but little of which has as yet been published. In 1888 a preliminary report on 'Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley,' prepared by Prof. W. W. Cooke and Mr. Otto Widmann, under the direction of the chief of the division, was published, forming one of the most important contributions to the subject of bird migration that has yet appeared. A second report on 'The Land Birds of the Pacific District,' by Mr. Lyman Belding, was published in 1890, and, though issued by the California Academy of Sciences, was the outcome of the work of this committee. Eventually all of the vast accumulation of data inaugurated by the Union, and later carried on under the auspices of the United States Department of Agriculture, relating not only to the migratory movements of birds but to their distribution, will doubtless be published, with proper map and other graphic illustrations.

To another important committee appointed at the first congress of the Union was delegated the investigation of 'The Status of the European House Sparrow in America.' This committee issued circulars of inquiry, and made an elaborate preliminary report to the Union, which report was later, as in the case of the data accumulated by the Migration Committee, turned over to the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy of the United States Department of Agriculture. Under Dr. Merriam, the investigation was prosecuted with renewed activity, and a final and authoritative report was issued by the Department of Agriculture in 1889. It is needless to say that this impartially conducted report was strongly condemnatory of this burdensome pest.

At the second congress of the Union it appointed a Committee on Protection of North American Birds, which has been continued to the present time, and has been the guiding influence in this great economic and humanitarian work. It has done much to arouse and enlighten public opinion respecting the enormity of the destruction of birds for millinery purposes, and to guide legislation for the better protection of our birds. It early published two important 'bulletins' on the destruction of birds, and was the origin of the original Audubon Society, whose president, Dr. George Bird Grinnell, was long one of the most active members of this committee; through this society, with chapters throughout the country, the cause of bird protection was for several years immensely aided. Of late it has become practically the advisory committee of the existing Audubon Societies which have recently multiplied so gratifyingly throughout the country, and it publishes in 'The Auk' an annual report summarizing the work of bird protection for the year.

In extending a helping hand to casual and isolated observers, the Union has had a marked influence upon the recent progress of ornithology in America, as shown by the increase in the number of observers who have become contributors to 'The Auk,' and the constantly increasing number who have allied themselves to the Union by membership therein. The constitution of the Union provides for four classes of members; namely, (1) Active Members, limited to fifty, and to include only those who have distinguished themselves as original investigators in ornithology, and who reside in the United States or Canada; (2) Honorary Members, limited to twenty-five, and consisting of the most eminent of foreign ornithologists; (3) Corresponding Members, limited to one hundred, and consisting mainly also of eminent foreign ornithologists; (4) Associate Members, unrestricted as to number, but limited to residence in the United States or Canada. This class includes not only a large number of experienced field workers, but many college professors, educators, and persons eminent in other scientific fields, but who are not expert ornithologists. It is open to all reputable persons whose interest in ornithology is sufficient to prompt them to seek such a congenial alliance.