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From: jhiggott@axion.bt.co.uk (jeff higgott)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Yellow-legged Gull
Message-ID: <1990Nov13.182535@axion.bt.co.uk>
Date: 13 Nov 90 18:25:35 GMT
References: <1360@sun13.scri.fsu.edu> <153511@kean.ucs.mun.ca> <45917@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
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In article <45917@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>, dmark@acsu.buffalo.edu (David Mark) writes:
|> No-one has yet answered one part of Daan Sandee's original question:  (to
|> paraphrase)  "Who or what body actually does the authoritative 'lumping'
|> and 'splitting' for western Europe??"  Is it just that, somehow, a
|> concensus of scientific opinion develops?  How do the birders know when the
|> concensus has reached that stage?
|> 
|> (In North America, the American Ornithologists' Union has a committee on 
|> taxonomy that 'officially' endorses taxonomic decisions based on published
|> work.  Same for a different "AOU" in AUstralia.)

To the best of my knowledge, each country is resposible for its own bird
list, including decisions on taxonomic status.  For Britain, the body 
responsible is the British Orithological Union.  It is the powers that be in
the BOU who make the decisions based (I assume) on available information. 
Decisions are published primarily in its journal Ibis, but also in more
'available' journals such as British Birds and Birding World.  

I'm not sure whether the pattern differs in other countries.



* Jeff Higgott 
  - "Ask a stupid person and you'll get a stupid answer" - F&L