Significant Bibliographic Milestone Achieved in Bird Research

A significant new milestone has been reached in research underway on the history of birds of America northward from Panama. The 4000th bibliography item was entered into the database late on the afternoon of March 6th, while adding another newspaper record for the Passenger Pigeon, of wild pigeon as they were more typically called.

There were three more items then also added as some other found articles were also integrated into the recordset that includes more than 450 items from historic papers of North America, starting -- thus far -- in 1724.

Other interesting facts can be considered, as given here in a terse manner.

There are 134,000+ records in the dataset, from 11473 sites, though there are duplicates for a similar locale to allow temporal differentiation.

The records date from ca. 10000 B.C. to about 125 years ago, and convey details for 1748 recognized species.

More than 1400 narrative sources with bird records are included, which represent travelogues, journals, diaries, etc.

More could be said about the early records from the first bird journals, and how Forest and Stream needs further consideration because of the minutiae in those pages which are difficult to deal with because of the entire magnitude, where an item of significance might comprise just a few lines of typeset. An early index indicates the items of particular interest.

The 450+ items from a myriad of newspapers provides 1407 distinct records thus far, representing 179 distinct valid species with the vast majority for passenger pigeons, with some many tidbits of unique history. There are 41 states represented. Especially valuable have been issues of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the Farmer's Cabinet, the Jeffersonian, Liberty Tribune and Pittsfield Sun. Don't forget the various New York City rags and their asundry mix.

There needs to be some recognition given to the editors of these papers which presented a fine variety of bird-related stories.

There is a story of when a penguin (great auk) was shot in New England in 1732, and as the shootist Ebenezer Hovey tried to retrieve his prize, he fell into the water and drowned, but was remembered by a report of the event issued on a page of the Rhode Island Gazette.

How many notes regarding birds got an editor's attention and were published because one or another of the hunters got shot and died afield?

Have you read about how telegraph wires caused the deaths of many wild pigeons as reported in the autumn of 1873? There are almost 1750 distinct records amongst this compilation, which can convey a time when the first actual observation of the species occurred.

Did you see the story about the albino Bobolink singing in the meadow above Amherst?

Is Boggy Swamp still extant on Long Island?

Etc. Etc. and so forth and so on.

The compilation of information is not available anywhere else in the world, other than one personal computer. This project was started in 1996.

What an unsurpassed endeavour of profound interest it has been! It has been possible only because of the grand effort by many librarians and others to provide digital versions of historic newspapers in a format that can be easily searched and seen online.

If only the observations as documented could be mapped according to the county of known occurrence. Now that would be grand indeed.

There are though, further treasures of bird lore to find and consider despite whatever ...

Considering Specimen Collection of Ohio State University

The OSU Collection (a.k.a. Museum of Biodiversity) has - based on a review of pre-1886 records - has a great number of significant specimens noted in their database. Editing considerations can obviously be considered, though the most important aspect is the unique records.

In a review of some records, these comments are provided. With some nearly trivial edits, the quality of the data can be readily improved.

¶ 425316 - delete period in CollectionLocality

¶ 237347 - Fort Bayan may actually refer to Fort Bayard

¶ 206301 - Menodine may be Mendocino

¶ 133490 - Sacromento should be spelled Sacramento

¶ VerbatimCollectionDate: in some instances the month is given first, in others the date is first. I'd suggest a standard presentation.

¶ In the collection locality field, you sometimes have notes or comments. I'd suggest that this field might have the best determination of the specific locality, and an additional field be used to denote comments. (i.e., 7 mi. W of Columbus should be Columbus, Ohio with an additional notation that it was from seven miles west.)

¶ 7154 - Columbus, Licking Res. = might be Licking Reservoir to match with other specimens from this locale; i.e., 12374 - which lists Licking Reservoir as locality; and which - by the way - the latter specimens conforms with other Wheaton specimens based on locale and time; the notes field would readily allow inclusion of relative comments

¶ same for E. I Shores, where adding a period would make names match other entries; and where E. I. Shores (which have an extra space after the I.)

¶ 74481 - more likely E.I. Shores than E.I. Shares; several specimens have E. J. Shores which is also likely E.I. Shores

¶ 375766 - Elliiot Coues is Elliott

¶ 7690 - Sacromento more likely Sacramento

¶ 245129 - A.P. Morse = A. P. Morse (add space for consistency purposes; when doing online searches, little differences like this can make a difference)

¶ 260925 - might by Chas. A. Marsh to match name given for collector for other specimens

¶ 375723 - F.V. Haydon is F.V. Hayden

¶ 198721 - G. H. Raysdale should be Ragsdale

¶ 425448 - J M Wheaton to J.M. Wheaton

In working with the database records, I often do various sorts to evaluate records information, and make minor edits to improve data consistency.

¶ L M McCormick - adding a period after the initials would make these records match the name given for other specimens

¶ 405771 and 245320 - L. M. McCormimck should perhaps be L.M. McCormick

¶ 9299 - L.M.McCormick - adding a space after the initials would make this name match other entries

¶ 67151 and 74761 - Theodore Jasper could be the same at Theo Jasper

¶ 245327 - W, F. Henninger could use a period after the W. rather than the comma

¶ 40727 - W. Brester seems as if it should be Brewster

¶ 40740 - Wheaton Brewster - seems to have combined Wheaton and Brewster, and might need to be checked

¶ 133154 - C. Drexer should be corrected to Drexler; the published records do not indicate this species as having been collected at Fort Bridger

¶ 63091 - collected by Dr. A. Scho should be Dr. A. Schott

¶ The 1809 American tree sparrow record is unique in that among the 130,000 records evaluated, there are no others for this year

¶ 237207 - C. .E. Aiken has an unnecessary period

¶ 216084 - E. J. Shores seems to rather be E.I. Shores

¶ Barred owl = Barred Owl; with the other records well done in using the "accepted" common name currently being used; though the common snipe is now Wilson's Snipe

¶ Using the "accepted" common names is very difficult as they are consistently changing and takes a lot to follow what others deem to be proper

¶ 63359 and 63361 have the same date of record, but in the verbatimcollection field, the information is given in two manners

¶ 117991 - likely collected by S.F. Baird, as there are numerous other specimens from this location during this period of time

¶ 63091 and 313735and 313737 = please match the locality designations (i.e., Merida, Yucatan)

¶ 67232 - locality typo (not Delvil's Lake = Devil's Lake); state should probably be North Dakota, as there is no state of Dakota

¶ 294597 - in 1870 other Greene Smith specimens are from Cook County, Illinois

¶ 16762 - please spell out Long Island to match other entries

¶ 182530 - in the verbatimdatecollected field there is a period after Dec.; some other entries do not include this punctuation

¶ 199017 et al. - Greene Smith had collected several other specimens at Gainesville in 1878 as well as 1879 at the same locality

¶ 40624 - British Amer. Labrador has a province of Newfoundland; is it Labrador or Newfoundland?

¶ 110273 - E. J. Shores might be E.I. Shores given with other records

¶ 218468 - Columbus, O = possibly denote Columbus, and let the state designation attribute it to Ohio since other records do not include the O

¶ 324427 - E.I. Shores or E. I. Shore; please be consistent for all records; include the space for all or none

¶ Is there somewhere within your database where the county is given for the designated localities?

¶ 110233 and 406022 and 293707 and 245082 - in VerbatimCollectedField; = 02 May or 2 May; consistency is key

¶ 294220 and 294219 = Red River Bluff; CollectionLocality, one with a period and the other with no period

¶ 14908 and 9123 - Licking Co. Reservoir; 7357, Licking Reservoir Buckeye Lake; whereas others noted for Licking Reservoir; a problematic discrepancy

¶ 405771 - plus other specimens from District of Columbia designate CollectionLocality as Washington; this should be changed to not refer to Washington state, but rather to the District of Columbia

¶ 260967 - Collection locality W. Bridgewater whereas other denoted with West Bridgewater

¶ 198635 - CollectionLocality = Silver City, Lane Mt. in Arizona; 268284 and 260925 - CollectionLocality = Silver City, Lone Mt. in New Mexico; there could be improvements in the way the collectors name has been entered. Is it Lone or Lane Mountain? And Arizona was once part of New Mexico before their separation so it the site is the same, the state should match.

These are mostly minor changes, but once done, would improve the quality of the database information, and improve the results of searching based upon particular criteria.

Correcting Expedition Records Essential to Historic Ornithology of Great Plains

Among the original sources of information for historic ornithology in the northern Great Plains are records from surveys by topographic engineers in the mid-1850s. The preeminent source for this particular region is - of course - the 1855-57 expeditions led by Lieutenant Governeur Kemble Warren, along with a whole cadre of support personnel, including the renowned Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden, the expedition geologist and naturalist.

Since this was a government sponsored expedition, natural history specimens eventually became a portion of the vast collection at the Smithsonian Institution.

While investigating the bird records from the original journals of the Warren related expeditions, and while reviewing the specimen catalog as provided online by the Smithsonian, there were obvious differences.

It has been an interesting trail of investigation while considering the differences in record attribution, and just one example of improving the records related to some birds denoted during the early history of a growing nation.

Record Details

An original evaluation of records for the 1855-57 expeditions being considered, accepted the record details as being correct and were presented with this perspective. This was wrong, as the specimen records, based upon a closer evaluation, had obvious errors.

During the past three years, the specimen records have been more closely evaluated. This has included a review of the original journals from the expeditions - available on microfilm from the New York State Library in Albany - as well as a closer evaluation of details presented in S.F. Baird's seminal tally of bird notes. Only by entering each and every available record into a database, with all essential details, were obvious differences apparent.

Subtle differences are significant. Errors in designated dates, incorrect locality details and other specific details which were not correct, do not present an accurate view of occurrence for the bird specimens. There were also typographic errors, which are a scourge to providing a consistent and readily searchable set of records.

Correcting the Historic Record

An evaluation of dates and site of occurrence could be done only once all pertinent expedition records were entered into an electronic format which allowed sorting and grouping individual records. Once uncertain details became apparent, they were given further attention, and comparison to other records for similar dates and places. This helped to indicate corrections which were needed in the historic record.

Once the different records from the 1855-57 expeditions were entered into a relational database, certain discrepancies became readily apparent. Dates attributed to some specimens did not match the locale where the expeditionary party was present, based upon the original journal records. States did not match the designated locality. Years were apparently wrong for when the military group occurred at a specific place.

With some attention to details, these apparent errors were submitted to the curator of the bird collection at the Smithsonian Institution. The following are some examples were - based upon detailed consideration - meant record information was corrected and thus designated in an accurate manner.

Starting in September 2008, on item of consideration was USNM A4520, which had a locality of "Big Siorix River," which actually meant Big Sioux River, and was corrected to this site, with a designation to the state of Minnesota.

When two specimens of the Ovenbird were collected in April 1956, their record indicated they were taken in 1857. By noting a difference between the location of the expeditionary force during these two years, it became apparent that the 27 April dated should be for 1856, not 1857.

The Smithsonian curator checked into the details, and found that an 1856 date was correct, based upon a "catalog ledger" and so the collection record was revised.

For many of the specimens of the belted Piping Plover - Charadrius melodus circumcincta - the state given for their occurrence was the Loup Fork, which for several records, was a location in Wyoming. This was changed to its proper place, since it is obviously a site in Nebraska.

For A9017, the record base of the government institution, cited the species as the Little Tern. This was changed to Least Tern, to conform with is being another of the specimens collected at the Loup Fork of the Platte River, in mid-July 1857. The specific locale of the Loup Fork has not yet been designated for this and related species. The pertinent species records had a county designation of Howard, in the state of Nebraska, but this has been deleted and needs further evaluation of the expedition route and dates to derive an accurate place.

This applies to additional specimens, including A8819, A8820 and A8837 which had been attributed to Howard County. In looking at the map route provided by the journal records for the 1857 expedition, these records could not have been seen at this place on the lower Loup River. It would be more appropriate to indicate the occurrence of the specimens - representing the Common Yellowthroat - which occurred on or about August 3, 1857, to the western middle extent of the Loup River, more likely in Thomas County. The Brown Thrasher, also denoted by specimens, would have been further west, as the records are from a few days later, on August 6th, which, based upon expedition maps, would have laced the expedition in an area corresponding to the present Hooker County.

Most of the suggested changes have been readily made by Institution staff, though it some instances, further research is required, so particulars that require additional investigation, i.e., specific county, the incorrect designation may just be deleted and left empty until time is available to determine an accurate entry.

Considering Historic Ornithology

Historic records of birds are an essential glimpse into former occurrence of species at a particular place at some time. If the details are not correct, their value is diminished and is not acceptable to any scrutiny. Only through close attention to the particulars, can errors be detected, considered and perhaps revised.

Most of the suggested changes have been readily made by Institution staff, though it some instances, further research is required, so particulars that require additional investigation, i.e., specific county, the incorrect designation may just be deleted and left empty until time is available to determine an accurate entry.

With further attention to this aspect of historic ornithology, can essential features for the original ornithology of North America be readily appreciated, and contribute an accurate indication for modern evaluation.