Re: [MDOsprey] Yellow Book Index--NOT

Emily Joyce (ejoyce@toad.net)
Wed, 28 Jul 1999 19:39:24 -0400


No offense, Jim, but I hope you lose this one.  The Yellow Book is supposed
to be a reference, not a teaching tool or a source of aggravation.

Emily Joyce
Crownsville, MD

Jlstasz@aol.com wrote:

> Hi Folks!
>
> I will take the entire credit for NOT having an Index on the Yellow Book.
> Marshall wanted one, and I believe Bob was not opposed, but I had the final
> word and decided against it. My reasoning was simple: if there was an Index,
> many fewer world learn the checklist order.
>
> The order in the current Yellow Book is essentially what had been in use for
> many years. The next edition, whenever that may appear, will have all of the
> changes recently adopted by the American Ornithologists Union [AOU}. Vultures
> will be moved to storks, the ducks rearranged, vireos will be after crows but
> before chickadees, and the "cardinal finches" moved to after the blackbirds.
> If I have my way again, there will be no Index!   :-)
>
> On another note. The  computer graphics program used to create the Yellow
> Book was developed in 1985. It does not support modern printers. It is not
> Y2K compliant.  The 486 that I ran it on has died and my 188 does not have a
> 5.25 floppy drive. The next edition will have to be made from scratch.
>
> Good Birding!
>
> Jim
>
> Jim Stasz
> North Beach MD
> jlstasz@aol.com