The American Ornithologists' Union 145 through the work of this committee alone one of the primary objects in view in founding the Union was most happih' 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 cer- tain 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 cooperation and into personal acquaintanceship as many as pos- sible 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 com- mittee, with Dr. C. Hart Merriam at its head, began at once to issue circulars of instruction and schedules for the i-eturn 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 onh^ 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 out- grew 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 Bio- logical Survey. The data on the migration and geographical distri- bution 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
