Explanatory notes

The taxonomic sequence used here is fundamentally Sibley&Monroe.

Modifications include:

• Corrections to data from Sibley&Monroe.
  • Spelling
  • Authorial attribution
  • Dates of citation.
• Taxa added since Sibley&Monroe.
• Rearrangement to reflect AOU Checklist (through 7th Ed.).

  NOTE:

  • notations at the end of a line such as "dP" or "ydP" indicate the entry differs from Peters Checklist.
    
  • "†" or "†" indicates an EXTINCT taxon.

  • links to citational source data include:
    
    • expansion of source title abbreviations,
    • publishing history of sources.(as available)
  • I am adding hypertext-links describing the "differences" these data have with other published sources by a system of explanatory notes (a footnote-like function).
  • I also am linking the author names to files giving the full author names, and brief biographical data (as available).

  • I am LEAST confident of Reichenbach citations, which I find to be an uninterpretable morass. I will be in no way surprised if other interpretations of his works are offered, and prevail. For all citations I am interested in contending proposals and will be pleased to present the rationale for what I have.
  • I do not place great importance on the particular order of taxa in this list and do not wish to defend the higher order groupings reflected here. I have used Sibley&Monroe and the AOU Checklist and supplements as they are relatively current and enjoy some broad use.

I have no intention of including common names in the database in the forseeable future.

I expect these data will be of greatest interest to Museum managers, avian taxonomists, and academic ornithologists.

I believe that this dataset is most valuable because of the uniformity of the citational sources, and the accuracy of the citational data (esp. dates).
Linking with my files that document the differences with other sources (esp. Peters Checklist), will also be quite valuable in my opinion.

Nevertheless, errors undoubtedly exist and I would be pleased to have any and all infelicities brought to my attention.

I EAGERLY seek input regarding these data, and would like to hear what would make the data more useful.

Comments&Suggestions to Data Steward
Alan P. Peterson, M.D.
POB 1999
Walla Walla, WA 99362-0999