Page:Land Birds of the Pacific District (1890).djvu/11



In the fall of 1883 the leading ornithologists of the United States and-Canada met at New York and organized the American Ornithologists' Union, appointed committees for the revision of the classification and nomenclature of North American birds, on their migration, avian anatomy, the elegibility of the European house sparrow in America, and on faunal areas.

The United States and British North America were divided into thirteen districts, including the light-houses of the coasts as one, with a superintendent for each district.

The Pacific District comprises California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada, in which I superintended the collection of data concerning migration and distribution of the birds for about two years, resigning early in 1886, as I thought we had already accomplished about all we were likely to in this line of inquiry, with the limited number of observers. The report from the District of British Columbia, Mr. John Fannin, Superintendent, was, at the suggestion of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Chairman of the Committee on Migration, and by the courtesy of Mr. Fannin, incorporated in our report.

Mr. Fannin informed me that his list of British Columbia birds was made up partly from his own notes and partly from those published by John K. Lord, and says that having traveled the province pretty extensively, he has ascertained that Mr. Lord made some mistakes in limiting the range of some species, and in recording the habits of others, and that the observations concerning British Columbia must be taken as referring to the whole province, and not for any particular district, unless otherwise stated.

"British Columbia," he writes, "is a country of