The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World: future plans
Under “H & M Online” we have now provided details (“Introduction to evolving online material for the H & M Checklist”) regarding the updating of the 2013/14 checklist. This explains that we are transitioning from working through the entire checklist family by family to making reasonably prompt changes in any family with fresh version-numbering with issue dates. This transition requires a temporary two-source system: one source being the newly revised families which, once uploaded, become subject to prompt change, the other – gradually dwindling – is data from the 2013/14 Checklist as we have been displaying it since 2019. We aim to complete the transition in 2024.
We have also explained that each revised and updated family will come with (1) a List of Footnotes and (2) a List of References (based on the footnotes). These, unlike the basic Checklist, will cease to be freely available when we introduce the “paywall” that we have explained under “H & M Online”. The Trust has spent several thousand pounds to initiate this system. We hope to be able to finance what remains to be done, but the paywall will probably have to be activated within the next 6 months. Watch this space!
When the paywall is in place, we will also make downloads available of the copyrighted content of the 2013 and 2014 volumes in a set of PDFs (not including the historical list content). This set will comprise:
a) From H & M 4 volume 1:
- Preface and Introduction pp. xi–xx.
- Avian higher-level relationships and classification by Joel Cracraft pp. xxi–xliii. [Non-Passerines]
- Table of contents and statistics pp. xlv–xlvi.
- Making full use of the list as presented pp. xli–l.
- Appendix 1. Nomenclature of the higher classification ranks of birds by Richard Schodde pp.387–390.
- Appendix 2. Matters of nomenclature and taxonomy pp. 391–401.
- Appendix 3. English Names by D.R. Wells, R.J. Dowsett and L. Svensson pp 403–404.
- Appendix 4. Variable species-group names and their gender endings by Normand David and Michel Gosselin pp. 405–408.
- Index to scientific names [for volume 1 in print, pp. 409–451].
- Index to English names [for volume 1 in print, pp. 453–461].
- List of references Vol. 1 (2,877 listed but note that in the on-line edition these references are not very useful as the link numbers no longer work).
- Appendix 5. ICZN Directions and Opinions (Ornithology) up to 2012. 14 pp.
- Appendix 6. Gazetteer (place names used in this work) 75 pp.
- Appendix 7. Selected maps (seven of them).
- Appendix 8. Changes in the spelling of scientific names Vol. 1 by Normand David and Edward Dickinson. 12 pp.
- Appendix 9. Dates of publication (links to Priority! The dating of scientific names in ornithology) by Edward C. Dickinson. 3 pp. + a 12 pp. table.
b) From H & M 4 volume 2:
- Preface and Introduction pp. v–xv.
- Avian higher-level relationships and classification by Joel Cracraft pp. xvii–xlv. [Passerines]
- Table of contents and statistics pp. xlvii–xlix.
- Making full use of the list as presented pp. li–lii.
- Appendix 2. Notes on taxonomy and nomenclature pp. 635–646.
- Appendix 3. Common names in English pp. 647–648.
- Errata and Corrigenda to Volume 1 pp. 653–659.
- Index to scientific names [for volume 2 in print, pp. 661–736].
- Index to English names [for volume 2 in print, pp. 737–752].
- List of references Vol. 2 (3,045 listed but note that in the on-line edition these references are not very useful as the link numbers no longer work).
- Extinct species. By Tommy Tyrberg and Edward C. Dickinson. 5 pp.
- Appendix 8. Changes in spellings of scientific names Vol. 2 by Normand David and Edward Dickinson. 12 15 pp.