John,
I fully agree with your observations. Here is a comment I made in July
during a discussion of Clements 6th Edition on BirdForum's Taxonomy &
Nomenclature forum:
"At the risk of ruffling a few feathers, I question why Clements is still
considered to be the checklist of choice by the ABA and so many other
birders. Although of similar size & weight, Dickinson (Howard & Moore)
(2003) is far more rigorous and contains significantly more information,
including a justification of the sequence of families adopted, author/date
down to subspecies level, and almost 3000 specific bibliographical
references. By contrast, Clements provides absolutely no justification for
its taxonomic stance and includes only a minimal introduction and a very
short (7 page) and unreferenced bibliography - the reader is simply expected
to take everything on trust.
Although I admit that I have obtained a copy of Clements 6th edition (mainly
out of curiosity), I look forward to the 4th edition of Howard & Moore
(2009?)."
It is unfortunate that Dickinson is not updated between editions (except for
the annual corrigenda issued on the web). But perhaps this will soon
change? See http://birds-howardandmoore.org
Richard Klim
Somerset, UK
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