A N D B O ( )F BIRDS OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Florence Merrieun Bail X BANCROFT LIBRARY THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RING-BILLED GULL (Page 23) HANDBOOK OF BIRDS OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES INCLUDING THE GREAT PLAINS, GREAT BASIN, PACIFIC SLOPE, AND LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY BY FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY WITH THIRTY-THREE FULL-PAGE PLATES BY LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES, AND OVER SIX HUNDRED CUTS IN THE TEXT FOURTH EDITION, REVISED BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 1915 r > COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY FLORENCE A. BAILEY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Publish** Navembtr, tgos nAfvfc PREFATORY NOTE. THE preparation of this book has been facilitated by the good offices of many ornithologists. To Mr. Robert Ridgway and Dr. C. Hart Merriam I am indebted for use of the National Museum and Biological Survey collections, and to Mr. Ridgway for generous help in the study of the museum skins. I am also indebted to Mr. Ridgway for use of the proof of his forthcoming Part II. of Birds of North and Middle America, and to Dr. Merriam for use of the Biological Survey records. Dr. A. K. Fisher has given me kindly advice at all points and important help by a critical reading of the entire manuscript, with especial examination of distributions. From my husband, Mr. Vernon Bailey, I have had untiring advice and assistance, in addition to the preparation of the water bird descrip- tions and keys, and a large number of biographies of both water and land birds. Mr. E. W. Nelson has generously corrected and extended the ranges of the birds in Mexico, and Mr. H. C. Ober- holser has rendered much valuable critical aid, while Dr. T. S. Palmer has contributed an important chapter on bird protection. To all those who have helped in the preparation of the book I would express my sincere gratitude and appreciation. FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY. WASHINGTON, D. C. October, 1902. NOTE TO FOURTH EDITION. IN the Addenda to the Fourth Edition of the Handbook will be found a list of the changes in families and genera made by the No- menclature Committee of the American Ornithologists' Union since the publication of the Handbook ; descriptions of new species recog- nized in the third edition of the Check- List of North American Birds (1910) and in the Sixteenth Supplement to the Check-List (1912) ; a list of species that should be dropped from the Handbook, either because they have been eliminated from the Check-List, rejected by the No- menclature Committee, thrown out of the western United States by the subdivision of species, or because the records on which they were included have been found unsatisfactory ; and also a list of the birds of the western United States in the nomenclature of the 1910 Check- List with corrected ranges ; together with a list of books of reference published since the first edition of the Handbook. F. M. B. May, 1914. CONTENTS _ T PAGE LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS ix INTRODUCTION xxv Acknowledgments xxv Collecting and preparing Birds, Nests, and Eggs. By Vernon Bailey xxvi Collecting Birds . xxvi Measuring .......... xxvii Making Bird Skins . xxviii Skinning xxix Stuffing xxx Labeling xxx Sexing xxx Collecting and preserving Eggs and Nests .... xxxi Note-Taking, Note-Books, and Journals . . . . . xxxiii Life Zones xxxiii Migration . . . . . • • • • . • xxxvi Economic Ornithology xxxvii Bird Protection. By Theodore S. Palmer .... xxxix Books of Reference xliv Use of Handbook Keys . xlix BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES WEST OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH MERIDIAN. KEY TO ORDERS , . . • KEY TO FAMILIES OF WATER BIRDS " • vi CONTENTS ORDER PYGOPODES: DIVING BIRDS 5 Family Podicipidse : Grebes 5 Family Gaviidae : Loons .9 Family Alcidae : Auks, Murres, and Puffins . . . .11 ORDER LONGIPENNES : LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS .... 17 Family Stercorariidse : Jaegers, etc. ...... 17 Family Laridae : Gulls and Terns 19 ORDER TUBINARES : TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS 32 Family Diomedeidae : Albatrosses 32 Family Procellariidae : Fulmars and Shearwaters ... 33 ORDER STEGANOPODES : TOTIPALMATE SWIMMERS .... 39 Family Anhingidae : Darters 39 Family Phalacrocoracidae : Cormorants 39 Family Pelecanidae : Pelicans 42 Family Fregatidae : Man-o'-War Birds 43 ORDER ANSERES : LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS .... 44 Family Anatidse : Ducks, Geese, and Swans . . . .44 ORDER HERODIONES : HERONS, STORKS, IBISES, ETC. ... 70 Family Ibididse : Ibises 70 Family Ciconiidse : Storks and Wood Ibises . . . .72 Family Ardeidae : Herons, Egrets, Bitterns .... 72 ORDER PALUDICOL.E : CRANES, RAILS, ETC 78 Family Gruidae : Cranes 78 Family Rallidae : Rails, Gallinules, and Coots .... 79 ORDER LIMICOL^J : SHORE BIRDS 84 Family Phalaropodidae : Phalaropes ...... 84 Family Recurvirostridae : Avocets and Stilts .... 86 Family Scolopacidae : Snipe, Sandpipers, etc 87 Family Charadriidae : Plovers . . . . . . . 102 Family Aphrizidae : Surf Birds and Turnstones .... 106 Family Haematopodidse : Oyster-catchers 107 Family Jacanidaa : Jacanas 108 KEY TO FAMILIES OF LAND BIRDS 108 ORDER GALLIN/E : GALLINACEOUS BIRDS 113 Family Tetraonidae : Grouse, Partridges, Quail, etc. . . . 113 Family Phasianidae : Pheasants and Turkeys 134 Family Cracidae : Currassows and Guans 137 ORDER COLUMB-E : PIGEONS 138 Family Columbidae : Pigeons 138 ORDER RAPTORES: BIRDS OF PREY 144 Family Cathartidae : Vultures 144 Family Falconidae : Falcons, Hawks, Eagles, etc. . . . 146 Family Strigidae : Barn Owls 173 Family Bubonidae : Horned Owls, etc. 175 ORDER PSITTACI : PARROTS, MACAWS, PAROQUETS, ETC. . . 192 Family Psittacidae : Parrots and Paroquets 192 CONTENTS vii ORDER COCCYGES: CUCKOOS, ETC 193 Family Cuculidse : Anis, Road-runners, and Cuckoos . . . 193 Family Trogonidae : Trogons 197 Family Alcedinidae : Kingfishers 198 ORDER PICI : WOODPECKERS, ETC 200 Family Picidse : Woodpeckers . . . . . . . 200 ORDER MACROCHIRES : GOATSUCKERS, SWIFTS, AND HUMMINGBIRDS 222 Family Caprimulgidae : Goatsuckers 222 Family Micropodidae : Swifts 229 Family Trochilidse : Hummingbirds 232 ORDER PASSERES : PERCHING BIRDS 245 Family Cotihgidae : Cotingas 245 Family Tyrannidae : Tyrant Flycatchers . . . . .245 Family Alaudidae : Larks 265 Family Corvidae : Crows, Jays, Magpies, etc 269 Family Sturnidae : Starlings 285 Family Icteridse : Blackbirds, Orioles, etc. ^ . . . . 285 Family Fringillidae : Finches, Sparrows, etc. . . . . 303 Family Tanagridae : Tanagers . 379 Family Hirundinidae : Swallows 382 Family Ampelidse : Waxwings and Phainopeplas . . . 387 Family Laniidae : Shrikes . . . » 391 Family Vireonidae : Vireos 394 Family Mniotiltidae : Wood Warblers 401 Family Motacillidae : Wagtails 431 Family Cinclidae : Dippers 432 Family Troglodytidae : Wrens, Thrashers, etc. . . . . 433 Family Certhiidae : Creepers 451 Family Paridae : Nuthatches and Tits 452 Family Sylviidae : Kinglets, Gnatcatchers, etc 463 Family Turdidae: Thrushes, Solitaires, Bluebirds, etc. . 467 APPENDIX. Color Key to Genera of some of the Common Passerine Birds . 479 ADDENDA 486 INDEX . . 545 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FULL-PAGE PLATES. PACING PAGK I. RING-BILLED GULL Frontispiece. II. ZONE MAP xxxiv III. TOPOGRAPHY OF BIRD 1 IV. EARED GREBB 7 V. FORSTER TERN 29 VI. PELAGIC CORMORANT • .42 VII. SHOVELLER 64 VIII. BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON - 77 IX. WILSON PHALAROPE 85 X. BLACK-NECKED STILT . . . . . . .86 XI. LONG-BILLED CURLEW 101 XII. SNOWY PLOVER 105 XIII. SCALED PARTRIDGE 118 XIV. MEARNS QUAIL 122 XV. WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN 129 XVI. MARSH HAWK 150 XVII. AUDUBON CARACARA 171 XVIII. POOR-WILL 224 XIX. SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER 246 XX. ARKANSAS AND CASSIN KINGBIRDS 249 XXI. ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER 253 XXII. MAGPIE 270 XXIII. LONG-CRESTED JAY 273 XXIV. WOODHOUSE JAY .274 XXV. NORTHERN RAVEN 280 XXVI. YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD 288 XXVII. WESTERN LARK SPARROW 336 XXVIII. TEXAS PYRRHULOXIA 371 XXIX. LARK BUNTING 377 XXX. PILEOLATED WARBLER 428 XXXI. ROCK WREN . . .443 XXXII. CANYON WREN 445 XXXIII. LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN 450 x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XXXIV. PYGMY NUTHATCH 454 XXXV. MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE . 458 XXXVI. VARIED THRUSH 474 DIAGRAMS. Measurement of Bill xxviii Measurement of Tarsus xxviii FIGURES IN THE TEXT, FIGURE PAGE 1. Western Grebe, foot 2 2. Loon, foot 2 3. Tufted Puffin, foot 2 4. Herring Gull, foot 2 5. Parasitic Jaeger, bill 2 6. Short-billed Gull, bill 2 7. Black-footed Albatross, bill 3 8. Giant Fulmar, bill 3 9. Cormorant, foot 3 10. Man-o'-War Bird, bill 3 11. White-crested Cormorant, bill 3 12. White Pelican, bill 3 13. Merganser, foot 3 14. White-faced Glossy Ibis, bill 4 15. Green Heron, head .........4 16. Sandhill Crane, foot 4 17. Florida Gallinule, foot 4 18. White -rum ped Sandpiper, foot 4 19. Eilldeer, foot 4 20. Western Grebe, head 5 21. Horned Grebe, head 7 22. Least Grebe 8 23. Pied-billed Grebe .8 24. Loon, bill .9 25. Pacific Loon, head . . 11 26. Tufted Puffin, bill 11 27. California Murre, bill 11 28. Rhinoceros Auklet, bill 12 29. Pigeon Guillemot, bill 12 30. Paroquet Auklet, bill 12 31. Least Auklet, bill 12 32. Tufted Puffin, head 12 33. Rhinoceros Auklet, bill 13 34. Paroquet Auklet, bill 14 35. Least Auklet, bill 14 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi 36. Marbled Murrelet . 15 37. Pigeon Guillemot, head 16 38. California Murre 17 39. Long-tailed Jaeger, head 19 40. Herring Gull, bill 19 41. Forster Tern, bill . . - 19 42. Heermann Gull 24 43. Franklin Gull, head 25 44. Franklin Gull, wing tip 26 45. Bonaparte Gull, wing tip 26 46. Sabine Gull, bill 27 47. Sabine Gull 27 48. Caspian Tern, head 28 49. Least Tern 30 50. Black Tern 31 51. Sooty Albatross, bill 32 52. Black-footed Albatross, bill 32 53. Sooty Albatross, bill 33 54. Forked-tailed Petrel, bill 33 55. Slender-billed Fulmar, bill 33 56. Giant Fulmar, bill 84 57. Slender-billed Fulmar, bill 34 58. Kaeding Petrel 37 59. White Pelican, bill 42 60. Man-o'-War Bird, bill 43 61. Merganser, bill 44 62. Mallard, bill 44 63. Red-breasted Merganser, head .46 64. Hooded Merganser, head 47 65. Mallard, head 48 66. Baldpate, head 50 67. Green-winged Teal, head 51 68. Blue-winged Teal, head 52 69. Cinnamon Teal, head 53 70. Pintail, head 54 71. Wood Duck, head 55 72. Redhead, head . ' 56 73. Canvas-back, head 57 74. Scaup Duck, head 58 75. Golden-eye, head 59 76. Buffle-head, head 60 77. Old-squaw, head 61 78. Harlequin Duck, head . . . . . . .62 79. White-winged Scoter, head 63 80. Ruddy Duck, head 64 xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 81. White-fronted Goose, head 66 82. Canada Goose, head 67 83. White-faced Glossy Ibis, head . 71 84. Bittern, head 73 85. Bittern, foot 73 86. Green Heron, head ... 76 87. Sandhill Crane, foot . 79 88. California Clapper Rail . .80 89. Virginia Rail, head . 80 90. Virginia Rail, foot 80 01. Carolina Rail, head 81 92. Yellow Rail 82 93. Black Rail 82 94. Florida Gallinule 82 95. Florida Gallinule, foot 83 96. Coot 83 97. Coot, foot "... 83 98. Red Phalarope, foot 84 99. Red Phalarope 84 100. Northern Phalarope 85 101. Avocet, head . 86 102. Wilson Snipe, head 88 103. Long-billed Dowitcher 89 104. Stilt Sandpiper 90 105. Knot . 91 106. Pectoral Sandpiper 91 107. White -rum ped Sandpiper .... 0 ... 92 108. Baird Sandpiper 92 109. Least Sandpiper 92 110. Red-backed Sandpiper 93 111. Semipalmated Sandpiper 93 112. Western Sandpiper 94 113. Sanderling 94 114. Sanderling, foot . 04 115. Marbled Godwit v 95 116. Greater Yellow-legs 96 117. Lesser Yellow-legs 07 118. Solitary Sandpiper .97 119. Black-bellied Plover, head .102 120. Killdeer, head 104 121. Semipalmated Plover, head 104 122. Mountain Plover 105 123. Surf Bird . 106 124. Black Turnstone, summer plumage 107 125. Black Turnstone, head, winter plumage 107 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii 126. Black Oyster-catcher 107 127. Black Oyster-catcher, foot . 107 128. Bob-white, bill 108 129. Dove, bill 108 130. Turkey Vulture, bill 109 131. Turkey Vulture, foot . 109 132. Sparrow Hawk, bill 109 133. Fish Hawk, foot 109 134. Owl, bill 109 135. Saw- whet Owl, head 109 136. Western Horned Owl, head 109 137. Kingfisher, head 109 138. Kingfisher, foot 109 139. Cuckoo, foot 109 140. Cuckoo, bill 110 141. Woodpecker (Sphy rapicus) , bill 110 142. Woodpecker (Sphyrapicus), tail . 110 143. Woodpecker (Dryobates), foot . . . . . . .110 144. Woodpecker (Picoides), foot 110 145. Hummingbird, bill 110 146. Swift, bill .110 147. Nighthawk, foot . . . . . .' . . . .110 148. Swift, foot 110 149. Song Sparrow, foot 110 150. Skylark, bill 110 151. Horned Lark, foot 110 152. Flycatcher, bill . .111 153. Swallow, wing ....... r .. Ill 154. Sprague Pipit, foot Ill 155. Pipit, foot Ill 156. Warbler (Dendroica), bill Ill 157. Black and White Warbler, foot Ill 158. Song Sparrow, bill Ill 159. Goldfinch, bill . . . Ill 160. Crossbill, bill Ill 161. Longspur, bill Ill 162. Evening Grosbeak, bill . - Ill 163. Scarlet Tanager, bill .111 164. Summer Tanager, bill Ill 165. Oriole, bill . 112 166. Cowbird, bill 112 167. Crow Blackbird, bill 112 168. Shrike, wing feathers . .112 169. Loggerhead Shrike, head . . 112 170. Wren, bill . 112 xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 171. Jay, bill 112 172. Wren-Tit, bill 112 173. Robin, wing feathers 112 174. Kinglet, foot . .112 175. Warbling Vireo, foot 113 176. Warbling Vireo, bill 113 177. Vireo, tail . 113 178. Gnatcatcher, tail 113 179. Sage Thrasher, foot 113 180. Brown Creeper, bill . . . 113 181. Brown Creeper, tail 113 182. Chickadee, bill 113 183. Nuthatch, bill 113 184. Sage Grouse, tail 113 185. Sharp-tailed Grouse, tail 114 186. Ptarmigan, foot 114 187. Dusky Grouse, foot 114 188. Ruffed Grouse, foot 114 189. Mearns Quail, foot . .114 190. Bob-white, foot 114 191. Bob-white 115 192. Texan Bob-white . . . 116 193. Masked Bob-white 116 194. Plumed Partridge . . . 117 195. Valley Partridge, female 120 196. Valley Partridge, male 121 197. Gambel Partridge, male 121 198. Gambel Partridge, female 121 199. Dusky Grouse 124 200. Richardson Grouse 126 201. Franklin Grouse . " 126 202. Gray Ruffed Grouse 128 203. Southern White-tailed Ptarmigan . - 129 204. Prairie Hen 130 205. Prairie Sharp-tailed Grouse 132 206. Sage Grouse 133 207. Band-tailed Pigeon 138 208. Mourning Dove 140 209. White-winged Dove . 142 210. Mexican Ground Dove . 143 211. Inca Dove 143 212. Turkey Vulture, head 145 213. Fish Hawk, foot 146 214. Prairie Falcon, feather 147 215. Sparrow Hawk, bill 147 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv 216. Swallow-tailed Kite, tail . 147 217. White-tailed Kite, foot .147 218. Audubon Caracara, bill 147 219. Mexican Goshawk, feather 147 220. Swallow-tailed Kite 148 221. Mississippi Kite 149 222. Sharp-shinned Hawk . , . . 151 223. Cooper Hawk 152 224. Goshawk 153 225. Sennett White-tailed Hawk, primaries 155 226. Red-bellied Hawk, primary 155 227. Zone-tailed Hawk, tail 155 228. Red-tailed Hawk 155 229. Zone-tailed Hawk, tail .... ... 158 230. Swainson Hawk 159 231. Rough-legged Hawk 162 232. Ferruginous Rough-leg 163 233. Golden Eagle .......... 164 234. Bald Eagle 165 235. Duck Hawk . . . 167 236. Pigeon Hawk .168 237. Sparrow Hawk 170 238. Fish Hawk 173 239. Barn Owl, foot 173 240. Barn Owl .174 241. Saw-whet Owl 175 242. Western Horned Owl, head 175 243. Long-eared Owl 176 244. Short-eared Owl 177 245. Barred Owl .178 246. Saw-whet Owl, head 180 247. Screech Owl 182 248. Dwarf Screech Owl 185 249. Western Horned Owl, head 186 250. Snowy Owl 187 251. Hawk Owl 188 252. Burrowing Owl 189 253. Pygmy Owl 190 254. Elf Owl 191 255. Groove-billed Ani 193 256. Road-runner 194 257. Yellow-billed Guckoo 195 258. Black-billed Cuckoo, tail 196 259. Coppery-tailed Trogon 197 260. Belted Kingfisher 198 xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 261. Texas Kingfisher . 199 262. Woodpecker (Dryobates), foot 200 263. Woodpecker (Sphyrapicus), bill 200 264. Woodpecker (Dryobates),. bill 200 265. Woodpecker (Picoides), foot 200 266. Northern Pileated Woodpecker 200 267. Flicker .200 268. Northern Hairy Woodpecker . . . . . . 201 269. Harris Woodpecker . . . 202 270. Gairdner Woodpecker . ' .203 271. Texan Woodpecker . . .204 272. Nuttall Woodpecker . .205 273. White-headed Woodpecker 207 274. Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker . 208 275. Alpine Three-toed Woodpecker . . . . . . .209 276. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 210 277. Red-naped Sapsucker 211 278. Red-breasted Sapsucker 211 279. Williamson Sapsucker . 213 280. Northern Pileated Woodpecker . . . . . . .214 281. Red-headed Woodpecker . 215 282. Ant-eating- Woodpecker, head 216 283. Lewis Woodpecker . . .217 284. Red-bellied Woodpecker, head .218 285. Golden-fronted Woodpecker, head . . . . .219 286. Gila Woodpecker 219 287. Northern Flicker . 220 288. Whip-poor-will, head 223 289. California Poor-will 224 290. Nighthawk, foot 226 291. Nighthawk, head 226 292. Nighthawk, wing 226 293. Texas Nighthawk, wing 228 294. Swift, tail feather . . .229 295. Black Swift -. . .229 296. Chimney Swift . .230 297. Vaux Swift 231 298. White-throated Swift 232 299. Lucifer Hummingbird, bill ....... 232 300. Calliope Hummingbird, tail 233 301. Anna Hummingbird, female, tail . . . . . . 233 302. Black-chinned Hummingbird, tail . . . . . .233 303. Rivoli Hummingbird 233 304. Blue-throated Hummingbird 234 305. Ruby-throated Hummingbird, wing 234 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xvii 306. Ruby-throated Hummingbird 235 307. Black-chinned Hummingbird, female, tail „ 235 308. Anna Hummingbird, female, tail 236 309. Anna Hummingbird, male, tail 236 310. Costa Hummingbird 237 311. Anna Hummingbird 237 312. Broad-tailed Hummingbird, outer primaries .... 238 313. Broad-tailed Hummingbird, male, tail 238 314. Broad-tailed Hummingbird, female, tail 239 315. Rufous Hummingbird, male, tail 240 316. Rufous Hummingbird 240 317. Allen Hummingbird, male, tail . 241 318. Allen Hummingbird, female, tail 241 319. Calliope Hummingbird, tail 241 320. Calliope Hummingbird 242 321. Lucifer Hummingbird 242 322. Broad-billed Hummingbird . 244 323. Xantus Becard 245 324. Kingbird 248 325. Arkansas Kingbird, wing tip 248 326. Cassin Kingbird, wing tip . .249 Crested Flycatcher Wood Pewee 327. Flycatchers Pho3be 251 Kingbird Least Flycatcher 328. Flycatcher (Myiarchus), foot . .251 329. Phoebe 254 330. Western Black Phoebe, head 256 331. Flycatcher (Contopus), foot . . . . . . .256 332. Olive-sided Flycatcher 257 333. Coues Flycatcher 257 334. Western Wood Pewee . 258 335. Flycatcher (Empidonax), foot 259 336. Western Flycatcher, bill 259 337. Hammond Flycatcher, bill 259 338. Wright Flycatcher, bill . . 259 339. Western Flycatcher, bill 260 340. Hammond Flycatcher 262 341. Hammond Flycatcher, bill 262 342. Wright Flycatcher, bill 262 343. Horned Lark, head 266 344. Pallid Horned Lark 267 345. Blue Jay 272 346. Rocky Mountain Jay, head . .277 xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 347. Oregon Jay, head 278 348. Crow, bill 279 349. Clarke Nutcracker 282 350. Bobolink, tail 285 351. Bobolink, head 285 352. Cowbird, bill 285 353. Meadowlark, head 285 354. Bronzed Grackle, bill 285 355. Oriole, bill 285 356. Yellow-headed Blackbird, foot 285 357. Red-wing, head 286 358. Bobolink 286 359. Cowbird 287 360. Red-winged Blackbird 290 361. Meadowlark 292 362. Scott Oriole 294 363. Arizona Hooded Oriole 296 364. Baltimore Oriole . . 297 365. Bullock Oriole, head 298 366. Brewer Blackbird 300 367. Bronzed Grackle 301 368. Redpoll, wing 303 369. Crossbill, bill ' . . .303 370. Western Evening Grosbeak, bUl 303 371. Redpoll, head 304 372. Snowflake, head . . .304 373. McCown Longspur, tail . . 304 374. Pine Finch, head 304 375. Black-headed Grosbeak, head . . . . . . .304 376. Western Lark Sparrow 304 377. Longspur, foot 304 378. Vesper Sparrow, tail 304 379. Dickcissel, head 305 380. English Sparrow, male 305 381. Pine Grosbeak, head 305 382. Pyrrhuloxia 305 383. Cardinal, head 305 384. Arctic Towhee 305 385. Slate-colored Jujco, head 305 386. Sparrow (Aimophila), wing 306 387. White-crowned Sparrow 306 388. Green-tailed Towhee, head 306 389. Fox Sparrow, head 306 390. California Towhee .306 391. Bunting (Cyanoapiza), bill 306 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xix 392. Song Sparrow, head 306 393. Western Evening Grosbeak . 307 394. Pine Grosbeak 308 395. California Purple Finch, tail 310 396. Purple Finch 311 397. Cassin Pur,ple Finch, head . . 312 398. House Finch, male 812 399. House Finch, female . 312 400. Crossbill, bill 313 401. White-winged Crossbill 315 402. Gray-crowned Leucosticte, head . . . . . . . 315 403. Hoary Redpoll . . . . . . . . . .318 404. Redpoll, head 319 405. Goldfinch 321 406. Arkansas Goldfinch, adult 322 407- Arkansas Goldfinch, immature 322 408. Lawrence Goldfinch 323 409. Pine Finch 323 410. English Sparrow, male ....... 324 411. English Sparrow, female .• 324 412. Snowflake 325 413. Lapland Longspur, summer male ...... 326 414. Lapland Longspur, winter male 326 415. Smith Longspur, summer male . ... . . . . 327 416. Chestnut-collared Longspur, summer male ..... 328 417. Chestnut-collared Longspur, winter male 328 418. McCown Longspur . . . 328 419. Western Vesper Sparrow, tail 329 420. Sandwich Sparrow . . . . . . . . .331 421. Large-billed Sparrow . 833 422. Baird Sparrow 333 423. Western Grasshopper Sparrow 334 424. Sharp-tailed Sparrow, tail 335 425. Harris Sparrow ... 337 426. White-crowned Sparrow ........ 338 427. Gambel Sparrow, head . 339 428. Golden-crowned Sparrow ........ 340 429. White-throated Sparrow, head 340 430. Western Tree Sparrow ........ 341 431. Western Chipping Sparrow, head ...... 342 432. Brewer Sparrow, head . .843 433. Worthen Sparrow, head 344 434. Black-chinned Sparrow 345 435o Slate-colored Juneo 846 436. Thurber Jiraeo .348 EC LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 437. Red-backed Junco ... 349 438. Black-throated Sparrow, head 350 439. Sage Sparrow, head 352 440. Cassin Sparrow 353 441. Rufous-winged Sparrow, head 354 442. Rufous-crowned Sparrow, head 354 443. Song Sparrow, head .... .... 356 444. Desert Song Sparrow 357 445. Mountain Song Sparrow . 357 446. Samuels Song Sparrow 358 447. Rusty Song Sparrow 358 448. Lincoln Sparrow 359 449. Fox Sparrow 361 450. Townsend Sparrow 361 451. Thick-billed Sparrow, bill . .' 362 452. Slate-colored Sparrow, bill . 363 453. Stephens Sparrow, bill 363 454. Calif orniaTowhee 363 455. Towhee, head 363 456. Towhee, head 364 457. Arctic Towhee 364 458. Spurred Towhee . 365 459. Oregon Towhee . 365 460. California Towhee, head . 367 461. Green-tailed Towhee, head . . 368 462. Cardinal, head 369 463. Rose-breasted Grosbeak 372 464. Black-headed Grosbeak, head 372 465. Bunting (Cyanospiza), bill 374 466. Dickcissel, head 377 467. Scarlet Tanager, head . . . 379 468. Summer Tanager, bill 379 469. Scarlet Tanager, bill 380 470. Summer Tanager, bill 382 471. Barn Swallow, tail 382 472. Rough- winged Swallow, feather 382 473. Cliff Swallow, head 384 474. Barn Swallow, foot 385 475. Barn Swallow 385 476. White-bellied Swallow 386 477. Bank Swallow 386 478. Rough-winged Swallow, feather 387 479. Rough-winged Swallow, head 387 480. Cedar Waxwing 389 481. Phainopepla 390 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxi 482. Shrike, bill 391 483o Northern Shrike 392 484. White-rumped Shrike 392 485. Black-capped Vireo, head 394 486. Cassin Vireo, head 394 487. Red-eyed Vireo, head 394 488. Warbling Vireo, head . 394 489. Red-eyed Vireo, head 395 490. Warbling Vireo, head 395 491. Cassin Vireo, head 396 492. Black-capped Vireo, head 397 493. Redstart, bill 401 494. Red-faced Warbler, bill 401 495. Black and White Warbler, head . . . . . . .401 496. Black and White Warbler, foot 401 497. Warbler (Helminthophila), foot 401 498. Chat, head 401 499. Northern Parula Warbler, head . 401 500. Warbler (Dendroica), bill 401 501. Black and White Warbler, head .402 502. Calaveras Warbler, head 402 503. Calaveras Warbler, head .404 504. Northern Parula Warbler, head 406 505. Warbler (Dendroica), foot 407 506. Blackburnian Warbler, head 407 507. Yellow Warbler, head . .407 508. Magnolia Warbler, head 408 509. Olive Warbler 408 510. Black-throated Blue Warbler, head 408 511. Black-throated Gray Warbler, head 408 512. Hermit Warbler, head 408 513. Black-throated Green Warbler, head 408 514. Golden-cheeked Warbler, head 408 515. Townsend Warbler, head 408 516. Black-poll Warbler, head 409 517. Yellow-rumped Warbler, head 409 518. Chestnut-sided Warbler, head 409 519. Olive Warbler 410 520. Yellow Warbler, head 411 521. Black-throated Blue Warbler, head 412 522. Yellow-rumped Warbler, head 412 523. Audubon Warbler 413 524. Magnolia Warbler, head 415 525. Chestnut-sided Warbler, head . . . - . . . .416 526. Black-poll Warbler, head 417 xxii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 527. Blackburnian Warbler, head 417 528. Black-throated Gray Warbler, head ...... 419 529. Golden-cheeked Warbler, head 419 530. Black-throated Green Warbler, head 420 531. Townsend Warbler, head 421 532. Hermit Warbler, head 421 533. Oven-bird, head . .423 534. GrinneR Water-Thrush . . . . . . . .423 535. Macgillivray Warbler, head 425 536. Western Yellow-throat, head 425 537. Long-tailed Chat 426 538. Wilson Warbler, head 428 539. Canadian Warbler, head .429 540. Redstart, head . . . . . . . . .429 541. Pipit 431 542. Pipit, foot 431 543. Sprague Pipit, foot 432 544 Water Ouzel . . . 432 545. Sage Thrasher 433 546. Brown Thrasher, head 434 547. California Thrasher, bill ,434 548. Mockingbird, head 434 549. Catbird, head 434 550. Cactus Wren 434 551. Canyon Wren 434 552= Rock Wren 434 553. Western Winter Wren 434 554. House Wren, head . 434 555. Long-billed Marsh Wren, head 434 556. Carolina Wren, head . 435 557. Sage Thrasher 435 558. Eastern Mocker 436 559. Catbird 437 560. Brown Thrasher 433 561. Sennett Thrasher 433 562. Curve-billed Thrasher 439 563. Palmer Thrasher 439 564. Bendire Thrasher 440 565. Californian Thrashe? . 440 566. Leconte Thrasher . . 441 567. Crissal Thrasher . 442 568. Cactus Wren 442 569. Rock Wren. . . ! 443 570. Canyon Wren 445 571. Carolina Wren, heail » . . 446 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xxiii 572. Vigors Wren 447 573. Parkman Wren . 448 574. Western Winter Wren 449 575. Brown Creeper, bill ... 451 576. Brown Creeper, tail 451 577. Calif ornian Creeper 452 578. Slender- billed Nuthatch, feather 453 579. White-breasted Nuthatch, feather 453 580. White-breasted Nuthatch, head .... 0 .. 453 581. Red-breasted Nuthatch, head . 454 582. Plain Titmouse 456 583. Bridled Titmouse, head 457 584. Chickadee, head 457 585. Wren-Tit . 46C 586. Bush-Tit 461 587. Lloyd Bush-Tit 462 588. Kinglet, bill 463 589. Golden-crowned Kinglet, head . 463 590. Ruby-crowned Kinglet, head 464 591. Gnatcatcher, tail 465 592. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, head 465 593. Plumbeous Gnatcatcher, feather ....... 465 594. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher,, feather 465 595. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 465 596. Plumbeous Gnatcatcher 466 597. Townsend Solitaire 467 598. Wood Thrush 469 599. Robin, bill 472 600. Robiia 472 601. Bluebird . 475 INTRODUCTION. THE classification, nomenclature, and numeration used in this book are those of the A. 0. U, Check-List of North American Birds, except that modern scientific usage has been followed in dropping the possessive form in the vernacular names of species, as Clarke nutcracker and Steller jay, instead of Clarke's nutcracker and Stel- ler's jay. The rulings of the nomenclature committee of the Amer- ican Ornithologists' Union have been followed, but new species upon which the committee has not yet ruled have been included in foot- notes under their proper places. In the matter of authorities, Ridgway's Manual of North Ameri- can Birds, his Hummingbird paper, and Birds of North and Middle America (Parts I. and II.) have been used at all points as standard authorities, and the substance of keys and descriptions frequently quoted. In the general treatment of species various authorities have been followed. General Characters. — These summaries of technical characters have been abridged from the generic descriptions in Parts I. and II. of Ridgway's Birds of North and Middle America, his monograph on the Hummingbirds, and Coues's Key to North American Birds. Measurements. — The measurements have been taken from the second edition of Ridgway's Manual of North American Birds, from Parts I. and II. of North and Middle America, with the millimeters converted into inches, and, in the case of species not included in these books, from the original descriptions. Nest and Eggs. — Descriptions of nests and eggs are taken mainly from Bendire's Life Histories of North American Birds, Ridgway's Manual, second edition, The Auk, The Condor, The Osprey, The Nidologist, The Ornithologist and Oologist, Goss's Birds of Kansas, The Biological Survey Records, and from specimens in the Bendire and Ralph collections of the United States National Museum. xxvi INTRODUCTION Pood. — Food notes have been made up mainly from Bendire's Life Histories, Fisher's Hawks and Owls of the United States, Goss's Birds of Kansas, and the records of the Biological Survey. Distribution. — The distributions have been compiled from the manuscript maps and reports of the Biological Survey, and the North American Fauna, (3) San Francisco Mountain, Arizona ; (7) Death Valley, and (16) Mount Shasta, California; (22) Hudson Bay; (5) Idaho; (21) The Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia; and (14) The Tres Marias Islands, Mexico; TJie A. 0. U. CJieck-List of North American Birds; Belding's Land Birds of California; Bendire's Life Histories of North American Birds; Bruner's Birds of Nebraska ; Bryant's Birds and Eggs of the Farallon Islands; Cooke's Bird Mi- gration in the Mississippi Valley, and Birds of Colorado; Fannin's Check- List of British Columbia Birds; Goss's Birds of Kansas; Grin- nell's Birds of the Pacific Slope of Los Angeles County; Loonris's Cali- fornia Water Birds; Macoun's Catalogue of Canadian Birds; Mc- Gregor's Pacific Coast Avifauna; and Silloway's Summer Birds of FlatJiead Lake, Montana; together with local lists in The Auk, The Bulletin of the Cooper Ornithological Club, The Condor, and The Illustrations. — The new heads and full figures of birds are by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, the outlines by Miss Franceska Weiser, the old material from drawings of Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Ernest Thomp- son Seton, Robert Ridgway, John L. Ridgway, and Frank Bond, published previously by the Smithsonian Institution, the Biological Survey, The Auk, The Osprey, and Houghton, Mifflin & Company in Birds of Village and Field and A-Birding on a Bronco. COLLECTING AND PREPARING BIRDS, NESTS, AND EGGS. BY VBBNON BAILEY. Collecting Birds. — Our present knowledge of birds and their classification has come from a study of specimens, of the dead bird in the flesh, of crops and stomachs, stuffed skins, and skeletons ; and without this foundation the study of birds would not have its deep interest and meaning nor its practical bearing on the economy of our lives. Even our enjoyment of the birds in life, their beauty, song, and friendship, would be far less than it is without the un- derlying knowledge of their life history, the place they fill, and their importance to us. INTRODUCTION xxvii Naturalist collectors are far from being the ruthless destroyers of life they are often supposed to be. It is, indeed, those who collect the birds, study them most deeply, and know them best, who are doing the most for their protection. Most ornithologists have begun their study of birds by making private collections, and have turned the knowledge thus gained to the best good of the birds, while their collections have finally gone to museums, where they could benefit the greatest number of students. In most museums, it is true, there are large collections of bird skins, often hundreds of specimens of a single species, showing every shade of variation due to age, sex, season, moult, and wear of plumage, and endless geographic variation over a wide range of country ; but to many of those who have the best chance to study the birds in life these collections are inaccessible. There are still unknown, rare, and little known species of birds that must be obtained before our knowledge of our own species can be approximately complete and our system of classification firmly established. But the more immediate and pressing question before the young ornithologist is how to identify the obscure species and the females and young of better known birds. In many cases the bird must be shot to be identified, and not infrequently it must be sent to some large museum collection for comparison for satisfactory determination. Collecting, therefore, has not only a legitimate but fundamental place in ornithology as a scientific study. Measurements. — It should be borne in mind that measurements are not infallible, and even where the maximum and minimum of a series are given, still larger or smaller specimens may be found. In many cases measurements are useless in determining characters, but in others they are the all important differences between species and subspecies. The total length is the most variable measurement, and when taken from a skin instead of a bird in the flesh is only intended to give a general idea of the size of the bird. In quoting Mr. Ridgway's measurements throughout this book the word 'about' has been omitted from his lengths, as it applies to all length measurements. Lengths are taken from the birds in the flesh, if not specifically stated to be from skins. All measurements in the book are in inches. Wing, tail, bill, and tarsus measurements are the important ones in most species, especially so because they can be taken from the dry skin as well as from the fresh specimens. Mea- surements should be taken in the following manner: — Length. — From tip of bill to tip of tail. To get this lay the INTRODUCTION bird on its back on a rule or tape-measure, with neck and body straight. Wing. —From the front of the bend of the wrist joint of the wing to the tip of the longest feather. This can be taken with either tape or dividers. Tail. — From the extreme base of the tail to its tip. To get this exactly place one point of the dividers at the base of the tail be- tween the two middle tail feathers, and the other point of th« dividers at the tip of the tail. Bill. — From edge of feathers on top of bill to tip of bill. When it would be necessary to part the feathers to reach the base of the bill the expression ' exposed culmen ' is used for the mea- surement. Tarsus. — From heel joint to angle of toe with tarsus. If this is difficult to determine, put the dividers on the outside and bend the toes. Middle toe. — From angle of tarsus and toes to base of claw, the length of the claw not being taken unless specified. Such measurements as length of toes, depth of bill at base, at nostril, etc., and relative lengths of certain feathers and spots and markings can usually be taken most accurately and conveniently with dividers. Making bird skins. — For making bird skins a few simple tools and materials are needed, — two sizes of scalpels or slender-bladed knives for skinning, a pair of stout, sharp scissors, and a pair of forceps, some powdered arsenic and corn-meal, cotton (for large species tow), a round-pointed needle, thread, and labels. The English sparrow is a good bird to begin with and practice on until skins can be made that are worth keeping, an end not attained without patient and painstaking effort. Having shot a bird, examine it for bloody or soiled spots, and sprinkle any that are found with corn-meal or fine sand, and plug the throat with cotton to keep any blood or liquids from coming out and soiling the feathers. If an eye is broken remove it with the forceps, and fill the orifice with cotton and corn-meal, to prevent the fluids from soiling the feathers of the head. To keep the bird from injury until you can skin it, make a paper cornucopia, and after smoothing the feathers drop the bird in bill first ; then fold together the gaping edges of the cornucopia, and your bird will carry safely in your game-bag or hunting-coat pocket. INTRODUCTION xxix Skinning. — Place the bird on its back with its bill to your left, and part the feathers along the breast and belly. In most species a strip of naked skin will appear. Holding the feathers' back with the thumb and finger of the left hand, cut with a down stroke of the scalpel just through the skin from about the middle of the sternum back to the vent. Catch the edge of the skin at one side, and with the end of the scalpel handle or your fingers work it back from the body until the knee-joint of the leg appears, sprinkling in plenty of corn-meal as you go to absorb blood and juices and keep your fingers dry and the feathers from sticking. Cut the bone at the knee-joint with scissors or knife, and draw it up out of the flesh, which can be cut off nearer the heel and left fast to the carcass. Loosen the skin farther back, then treat the other side in the same manner, fre- quently using corn-meal. Then turn the bird's bill from you, and cut across below the tail to the bone, and either unjoint or snip the bone with the scissors just in front of the base of the quills, keeping the forefinger of the left hand at a point opposite on the outside as a guide to prevent cut- ting the skin, and work the skin up over the rump. At this point a small hook, suspended in front and hooked into the bird's rump, will help the beginner, but he will soon learn to hold up the body between the tips of the first two fingers of the left hand, using the thumb and third or little finger of the same hand to draw down the skin as he cuts with the scalpel in the right. Work the skin from the edges, being careful not to stretch it. As the wings are reached draw them back out of the skin to near the second joint, break the first bone in the middle and remove the flesh. Keep the body well sprinkled with meal, and work the skin carefully down over the neck to the head until the ears appear, picking them out rather than cutting them off ; then working the skin along mainly with the finger nails over the eyes (cutting the transparent membrane without injury to the lids), and carrying it down to the base of the bill. Next remove the eyes and cut off the base and lower part of the skull, which can be done so as to leave brains, tongue, and fleshy part of mouth attached to the neck, and the skull and bill clean and free attached to the skin. If any bits of flesh or fat have been left on the skin, remove them, and then dust dry arsenic over the inside of the skin, fill the eye sockets with pellets of cotton, and reverse the skin by pushing the bill carefully back through the neck. With the beginner the skin will become dry before it is ready to be turned back, and will need moistening, but after some practice the xxx INTRODUCTION whole process of skinning should take only from two to four min- utes. As soon as the skin is turned back, the feathers should be smoothed and arranged, the eyelids adjusted, and the edges of the opening of the skin laid together before it is put down. Stuffing. — For the sparrow, take a short thick piece of cotton — tow for large birds — that will make a form the size of the body that has been removed from the skin, and press it firmly together with the fibers all one way. To fill the skull and make a firm neck, pinch one end of the cotton flat and double it over twice, holding it firmly after each time between the thumb and finger of the left hand. Then catch the hard compact point of cotton between the forceps in a position to hold it securely and push it into the bird skin, forcing the point up through the neck and base of the skull, catching it again with the left thumb and finger in the mouth of the bird. Loosen and draw out the forceps, but hold the cotton in the mouth until the skin is drawn back and adjusted over the stuffing, and superfluous bits of cotton removed or tucked in. Then draw together the edges of the skin and catch with a couple of stitches. When the wings have been put in place under the feathers at the sides, and the feathers properly arranged and smoothed, the skin is ready to be labeled and wrapped in a thin film of cotton. Then the bill can be tied shut with a thread and the bird laid away to dry. A beginner's skins are often greatly distorted, and only practice can teach the correct amount of cotton to use and its proper form and proportions. The best way is to keep in mind the size and form of the bird's body, and try to reproduce them. Be careful not to make bulging or weak necks. Leave each skin straight and symmetrical when put away to dry, and each feather back in its original place. Labeling. — Skins should be fully labeled with locality, date, sex, number, and collector's name, while such additional data as color of eyes, bill, feet, or any parts that fade, notes on breeding or locality where taken, stomach contents, etc., can be placed on the back of the label or kept in a catalogue under the number of each specimen. j Collection of Vernon Bailey. [_-a_<^c^kx«^_n^J^ sj Washington, D. C.° Mou \^\ 1902 Y. B. Sexing. — To determine the sex, cut through the side of the ab- dominal wall, push away the intestines, and close against the small INTRODUCTION xxxi of the back, if the bird is a male, you will see the two oval, usually light colored testes, — in the breeding season large and conspicuous, at other seasons small, and, in immature specimens, often difficult to find. If the bird is a female, in place of the two oval bodies there will be the ovary, a mass of spherical ovules, large or small ac- cording to the season, and often obscure in immature specimens. The male sign is Mars' arrow ( £), the female, Venus' mirror (9). Collecting and preserving eggs. — Egg collecting is justifiable only when the collector's earnestness of purpose warrants the sacrifice of happy bird homes, and no amount of pains and care should be spared to make each set a permanent and valuable illustration of the life history of the species. So far as possible only complete sets of fresh eggs should be taken. An incomplete set is of sec- ondary importance, and eggs in which incubation is advanced are not worth troubling with unless very rare. The first step is to identify the nest positively, which, in cases of rare species, can often be done only by collecting one or both of the birds. Eggs are worse than worthless if there is any question of their identity. The next step should be to photograph the nest from at least two points, one to show general setting and one at closer range to give detail of form and structure. Then notes should be made on the position, structure, and materials of the nest, the actions of the old birds, and the manner of identification, etc. When possible the nest should also be collected. Each egg should be wrapped in cotton and each set packed snugly in a wooden box with plenty of cotton for carrying home. The tools necessary for blowing eggs are a slender blowpipe and two drills, large and small, which can be bought of any dealer in naturalist's supplies. For drilling, hold the egg lightly between the thumb and two fingers of the left hand, and placing the sharp point of the drill against the side twirl it evenly with a slight pressure until it sinks into the shell, grinding out a smooth round hole which points down- ward, from the size of a pin-head in a fresh sparrow's egg to an eighth of an inch in diameter in a larger or partly incubated egg. In much incubated eggs it is often necessary to make a much larger opening. A fine stream of air should be forced into the egg without touching the blowpipe to the opening, and the contents gently forced out. When the shell is empty, with mouth full of water blow a stream into it and rinse out thoroughly, afterwards blowing all the water out and laying carefully away to dry. xxxii INTRODUCTION Incubated eggs, though almost at the point of hatching, are made by experts into nearly perfect specimens. Following their methods, drill the hole and then coat the shell with flexible collodion. After removing a small part of the fluid, if the egg is small, insert a solution of pepsin or of chlorinated soda, — Labarraque's solution, — and let the egg stand for a few hours, after which blow out the softened portion of the contents. Add more of the solution, and let the eggs stand again, keeping on until you have emptied the shell. Large eggs may be treated with a solution of caustic potash, care being necessary not to allow the alkali to touch the shell. To prevent accident it is well to have a basin of water near in which to immerse the egg if necessary. The collodion is removed after the completion of the work by the use of ether. Each set of eggs and each nest should be kept in a box, with a label something like the following, from the Bendire and Ralph collection in the National Museum : — A. O. U. No. Scientific name, Private No Common name,. Collector, Locality, Date, No. of Eggs in Set,. Identification, Incubation, NEST : Diameter, Depth, Composed of Location,. Of whom and when received,. Nests should be kept in boxes to fit their size. Great care should be taken to protect them from moths and other destructive INTRODUCTION xxxiii insects, as not only wool but hair and all other animal substances will be eaten and the nests ruined if they are not well looked after. The best protection for a nest is a spray of a solution of corrosive sub- limate, which can be used in a common atomizer, — with a warning red label, bearing the word ' POISON.' NOTE-TAKING, NOTE-BOOKS, AND JOURNALS. The value of collections is increased many fold by the field-notes which accompany the specimens, and the bird lover who does not collect may add most valuable material to our meagre knowledge of the life histories of our birds. A compact, statistical journal may be made, as Mr. Chapman1 and Mr. Felger2 suggest by means of a ' roll or time book,' or any sheets ruled in squares in pad form and punched along the sides to fasten into a cardboard cover. The squares should be used for daily records, the top or top and margin being used for headings, such as locality, zone, zonal plants and trees, slope exposure, temperature, condition of weather, direction and force of wind, amount of rainfall or snowfall, advance of vegetation, new insects abroad, indications of mating and of nest-building, number of nests found with eggs and with nestlings, number of young on the wing, condition of plumage, stage of moult, food, food habits, stomach contents of specimens taken, time spent in field, number of birds seen in flocks, number seen in migration flights. For more detailed life history notes, card catalogues, with family, generic, and specific divisions, are popular with many ornithologists. A convenient form of field journal is a pad punched at the sides to fit into a stiff cover, each sheet to be devoted to a species so that the sheets can be slipped out and arranged by species, alphabeti- cally. On the return from the field these can be dropped into box manuscript trays and arranged by the check -list. LIFE ZONES. The physical geographies have long taught the division of the earth into life zones, from the arctic to the tropical regions, with the corresponding vertical divisions from the tropical base of equa- torial mountains to their snow-clad arctic summits, and naturalists have long since worked out the distribution of animals and plants 1 Handbook of Birds of Eastern North. America, pp. 20-22. * " Plan for Recording Field Notes," The Auk, xix. 189-193. INTRODUCTION along these lines in Europe and eastern North America. But it is only within recent years that the Biological Survey carried on by the government has studied the old familiar generalizations in the western states in detail and mapped the life zones of the United States as a whole. The generally accepted theory that the distribution of mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, and plants depends on temperature has been demonstrated by Dr. Merriam as a physical law that "the northward distribution of terrestrial animals and plants is governed by the sum of the positive temperatures for the entire season of growth and reproduction, and that the southward distribution is governed by the mean temperature of a brief period during the hottest part of the year."1 With this as the working basis he has divided the United States into three parts, having the northern (Boreal), south era (Austral), and intermediate (Transition) climates and flora and fauna. By subdivision seven zones are made, known as Alpine, Hudsonian, Canadian, Transition, Upper Sonoran, Lower Sonoran, and Tropical. East of the hundredth meridian, which, broadly speaking, is the dividing line between the eastern or humid and western or arid sections, the Austral /one is known as Austral rather than Sonoran, and divided into Alleghanian, Carolinian, and Austroriparian Faunas. The Alpine Zone lies above the limit of trees, and is characterized by dwarf shrubs and plants, the polar bear, arctic fox, reindeer, the snow bunting, snowy owl, ptarmigan, pipit, and leucosticte. The Hudsonian Zone is marked by dwarfed timber along "the northern or higher parts of the great transcontinental coniferous forest,. . . stretching from Labrador to Alaska. It is inhabited by the wolverine, woodland caribou, moose, great northern shrike, pine bullfinch, and white-winged crossbill."2 On Mt. Shasta its only trees are the black alpine hemlock and white-barked pine, its character- istic mammal is the cony (Ochotona), and its characteristic bird the Clarke crow. It is also frequented by the sooty grouse, western goshawk, Williamson sapsucker, rufous hummingbird, Oregon jay, pine siskin, junco, Audubon and hermit warblers, creeper, red- breasted nuthatch, kinglets, and solitaire.3 1 Merriam's " Laws of Temperature Control of the Geographic Distribution of Ter- restrial Animals and Plants," National Geographic Magazine, vi. 229-238. 2 Merriam, C. Hart, "Life Zones and Crop Zones of the United States," Bull. No. 10, Biological Survey ; " Geographic Distribution of Animals and Plants in North America," Yearbook of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1894. 3 Merriam, C. Hart, North American Fauna, No. 16, " Result of a Biological Survey The (lotted parts of the Sonoran Zones cast of the Great Plains indicate the v;estem limit of the humid divisions of these Zones. LIFE ZONES BY C. HART MERRIAM INTRODUCTION xxxv The Canadian Zone comprises " the southern or lower part of the great transcontinental coniferous forest." It is the zone of firs, spruces, and white pines, which on Mt. Shasta are represented by the Shasta fir and the silver pine. One of its characteristic animals is the mountain beaver, and it has also the porcupine, pine squirrel, bear, wild cat, wolf, and other mammals. It is the home of the crossbill, Lincoln sparrow, and Arctic three-toed woodpecker, and frequented by birds found in the Hudsonian zone, such as tb.e sooty grouse, rufous hummingbird, siskin, j uncos, warblers, kinglets, and solitaire, together with a number found also in the next lower zone (the Transition), such as the white-headed, hairy, and pileated woodpeckers, nighthawk, olive-sided, Hammond, Wright, and west- ern flycatchers, Steller jay, Louisiana tanager, Macgillivray war- bler, and robin. The Transition Zone, in which northern and southern elements of flora and fauna often overlap, is characterized in the west by the yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa), several species of oaks and manza- nita. together with buck brush and sage brush. Some of the char- acteristic mammals are the big gray pine squirrel, the gray fox, and various species of chipmunks, spermophiles, and pocket go- phers. Among birds there are the western wood pewee, Gfairdner woodpecker, Lewis woodpecker, California pygmy owl, green-tailed towhee, pygmy nuthatch, red-breasted sapsucker, and Brewer spar- row, mixed with many species from the Upper Sonoran, the zone below, such as the California jay, valley quail, California wood- pecker, and spurred towhee. The Upper Sonoran Zone of the west is characterized by junipers, pinon, and various oaks, jack rabbits, cottontails, five-toed kangaroo rats, and several species of wood rats, the canyon wren, western lark sparrow, California chewink, and California bush-tit, while many Transition zone species also occur. The Lower Sonoran Zone, coming next above the Tropical zone, is the zone of the hot valleys, where live-oaks, mesquites, and creo- sote bushes abound, and the characteristic mammals and birds are the four-toed kangaroo rat, cotton rat, and spotted skunk, the mockingbird, nonpareil, verdin, pyrrhuloxia, road-runner, caracara, white-necked raven, phainopepla, and scaled quail. of Mt. Shasta ; " North American Fauna, No. 3, " Results of a Biological Sn»vey of San Francisco Mountain Region and Desert of the Little Colorado ; " " The Geographic Dis- tribution of Life in North America, with Special Reference to the Mammalia," Proc. BioL Soc. Wash. vii. April, 1892, 1-64. xxxvi INTRODUCTION Birds are naturally less restricted to zones than mammals and plants, and in the field the question of correlating them to zones is rendered difficult by the modifying conditions which complicate the zones themselves. Local conditions are constantly being met which produce a change of temperature within a zone, resulting in the intrusion of a tongue of a higher or lower zone. Forest fires make an artificial change in zones, a Canadian fir forest sometimes being replaced by Transition zone chaparral. Natural modifying conditions are many, and not always so patent. Slope exposure is the most important. If a ridge runs north and south, its southwest- ern slope, which receives the hot afternoon sun, will have, we may say, a Transition zone flora and fauna, while its cold northeast slope will have a Canadian zone flora and fauna. A cold mountain stream, on the other hand, will bring down the flora and fauna of one or two higher zones ; and Canadian and even Hudsonian plants and trees bordering such a stream may thrive on its banks in the Transition zone. So many other modifying conditions are found that the determi- nation of zones is a complex matter, and must be based largely on the study of trees and shrubs, as they are the most stable part of the life of a region. In relating the flora to the fauna the greatest care should be taken with the bird life, as a bird can at will change his zone by a few hours' travel. Zonal notes should always be accom- panied by dates, as breeding zones alone are of much significance, .birds wandering widely after the breeding season. The Lewis woodpecker is a striking example of this, for, while breeding in Transition zone, after the breeding season it wanders up into Cana- dian and down even into Lower Sonoran zone in its search for mast. Most mountain birds that do not migrate to the south change their zones in this way, Canadian zone birds being found in Upper and Lower Sonoran zones in fall and winter. MIGRATION. Many birds wander widely east and west after the breeding sea- son, and some even go north for a short distance. With many mountain birds the wandering movements after the breeding season amount to, a vertical migration. Birds, like the grouse and quail and certain species of juncos, that make only a vertical migration merely come down from the snow-covered mountains into the warm valleys. A number of hummingbirds perform vertical migrations INTRODUCTION xxxvii between their first and second broods, following the seasons of flowers from the valleys where they raise their first broods, to the mountain parks, where they rear a second family, retreating rapidly down the mountain as soon as the frosts kill the flowers. Among land birds a north and south migration is not as vital in the west as the east, especially for the seed-eaters, for the lowland winters are so mild that the food supply is not as extensively de- stroyed as in the east, and accordingly a much larger number of birds winter in the valleys of the western states than in the eastern. But while the western north and south migratory movement is less striking, the absence of winter birds less felt than in the east, the vertical migrations, from the superior height of the mountains and the preponderance of the mountain ranges, assume great impor- tance; and accordingly, while the total winter population may be large, the species in a locality will be markedly different in summer and winter. Careful notes should be taken on all these phases of the migratory movements to ascertain the exact migratory habits of each species of bird, and the character of the bird population in every season. As the mildness of climate which lessens the impulse to south- ward migration in the western land birds does not affect the water birds breeding in the arctic regions, the southward migration is found in full force along the coast. At suitable points, like Mon- terey, vast multitudes of birds may be seen passing on their way from the arctic regions to the southern seas, and migration waves and other phenomena studied to the best advantage. Mr. Loomis's observations at Monterey have thrown a great deal of light on this most interesting subject, and demonstrated the richness of the field for future investigations. ECONOMIC ORNITHOLOGY. The question of the food of birds assumes peculiar importance in the west from the extent of the fruit industry, and the consequent magnitude of the depredations of insect and rodent pests. Birds if left to themselves keep down the insect life, and the question is in each case if the harm a bird does in eating fruit in June equals the good he does the rest of the year in eating scale insects and other pests that take off the profits of fruit growing. As it is a matter of statistics, observers should make careful field notes on what birds are actually seen eating, and especially careful records of the stom- xxxviii INTRODUCTION ach contents of birds shot. When these cannot be determined with- out microscopes and collections of insects and seeds for comparison, the stomachs should be sent for examination to Professor F. E. L. Beal, of the Biological Survey, Department of Agriculture, Wash- ington, D. C.1 In general it may be said that the thousands of stomachs which have already been examined have shown that birds are divided into three classes, — 1. Those that are injurious at all times, as the three accipitrine hawks, which live mainly on small birds, game, and poultry. 2. Those that are injurious part of the year and beneficial the rest of the time, such as blackbirds that come in hordes in the fall and destroy the crops, but which when scattered out over the coun- try at other times of the year do an immense amount of good by de- stroying injurious insects. 3. Those that are beneficial at all times, as many hawks and owls and a large number of insectivorous and weed-seed-eating birds. As Professor Beal says: " If crows or blackbirds are seen in num- bers about cornfields, or if woodpeckers are noticed at work in an orchard, it is perhaps not surprising that they are accused of doing harm. Careful investigation, however, often shows that they are actually destroying noxious insects ; and also that even those which do harm at one season may compensate for it by eating noxious species at another. Insects are eaten at all times by the majority of land birds, and during the breeding season most kinds subsist largely and rear their young exclusively on this food. When insects are unusually plentiful, they are eaten by many birds which do not ordinarily touch them. Even birds of prey resort to this diet, and when insects are more easily obtained than other fare, the smaller hawks and owls live on them almost entirely. This was well illus- trated during the recent plague of Rocky Mountain locusts in the western states, when it was found that locusts were eaten by nearly every bird in the region, and that they formed almost the entire food of a large majority of the species."2 1 The Survey will furnish, on application, blank schedules for recording data, tags for numbering the stomachs, and franked envelopes for mailing. When collected, the stomachs (crops and gizzards) should be placed in alcohol or formalin for at least a week. Before forwarding to the department, they should be taken from the fluid, spread out on a newspaper, and dried for several hours, then placed in a baking powder can or cigar box, wrapped with a franked envelope on the outside, and mailed. The collector will be reimbursed for the outlay for alcohol, and will receive five cents apiece for a limited number of stomachs of certain species. 2 Beal, F. E. L., " Some Common Birds in their Relation to Agriculture," Farmer's Bulletin, No. 54, U. S. Department of Agriculture. INTRODUCTION xxxix As birds are the check nature has put upon insect life, the pro- blem is a grave one. How shall we profit by the good offices of the birds, and prevent the injury they in turn are capable of doing to our crops ? In the east Professor Beal has found that birds as a rule prefer wild fruit to cultivated, and are drawn away from the orchard and garden by the cultivation of wild fruit-bearing bushes. In parts of the west the mulberry and elder and pepper are favorite bird foods, and might be useful for such purposes. The question is a large one, however, and can only be settled by patient study and investiga- tion on the part of earnest bird students. BIRD PROTECTION. BY T. S. PALMER. Laws for the protection of birds are necessary even in sparsely settled regions. No place, however remote, is beyond the reach of the market hunter, provided a demand for game or feathers for millinery purposes exists, and prices are sufficient to warrant capture of the birds. Game birds have been shipped by thousands from the states beyond the Missouri River; pelicans, terns, and gulls have been decimated along the gulf coast of Texas; and grebes have been slaughtered on their breeding grounds on distant lakes in the interior of Oregon, — all to supply eastern markets. To meet such conditions every western state and territory now has its game law ; but few of these laws protect all the birds within the state, and several of them are capable of being improved and made much more effective. From the legislative standpoint birds may be divided into three categories : (1) Game birds, such as quail and ducks, which are hunted at stated seasons for food or sport. (2) Non-game birds, such as thrushes and gulls, which are valuable as insect destroyers or scavengers, and hence are protected throughout the year. (3) Inju- rious species, such as the English sparrow and the great horned owl, which are given no protection. Under the definition framed by the Committee on Protection of Birds of the American Orni- thologists' Union, game birds are restricted to four or five well marked groups : the Anatidse, comprising ducks, geese, and swans ; the Rallidse, including rails, coots, and gallinules ; the Limicolae, or shore birds in general ; the Gallinse, including quails, pheasants, grouse, and wild turkeys ; and (in some states) the Columbse, in- cluding wild pigeons and doves. All other birds are classed as xl INTRODUCTION non-game birds, and the few injurious species are mentioned by name. Such a division provides for all the birds, leaves no ambigu- ity as to which may be killed as game, and defines each group in the simplest and most satisfactory manner. A game law framed on this basis has been adopted with excellent results in some states, but in the west is still an ideal toward which to work rather than an accomplished fact. California, Colorado, and Nebraska have excellent laws for game birds, but they do not provide equally well for insectivorous species. Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming have comprehensive statutes for non-game birds, but do not afford complete protection to all their game birds. Game Birds. — Experience has shown that a modern game law must do much more than merely prohibit the killing of certain spe- cies at stated times. It must regulate methods of hunting, restrict shipment and sale, and also prescribe means for carrying its pro- visions into execution. It should contain the declaration that all wild birds and animals are the property of the state. This fact, based on the decisions of the highest courts, is now generally ac- cepted, but it is well to have it incorporated in the law, as is the case in the game laws of Colorado, Texas, and other states. Next in importance is a comprehensive definition of game birds like that given above. Another important point not fully appreciated is that a law which prohibits killing certain species is much less effective and permanent than one which simply permits, by declaring that it shall be unlawful to kill or have in possession ' any birds except as hereinafter provided.' This simple statement renders the law to a certain extent automatic, since all birds will be protected until pro- vided with an open season. Changes in season, the bane of game legislation, cannot be made so readily without attracting attention, and if,- as often happens, a proposed change in season fails of enact- ment, the species is left with complete protection instead of being without protection as under the old method. Little need be said as to seasons except that they should conform as nearly as possible to those of adjoining states. With improved guns, smokeless powder, and other modern appliances for hunting, no state can afford to maintain an open season from the time the birds are mature until they begin to breed the following year, for no species can withstand such an ordeal and not be locally exterminated in a few years. Open seasons are constantly growing shorter, and as they undergo change should be shifted to correspond more and more closely with those of other states. Above all, spring shooting should be abolished, and INTRODUCTION xli the close season begin as near the first of January as possible. Big guns are very properly made illegal, and an unsuccessful attempt was recently made in California to prevent the use of magazine or ' pump guns,' on the ground that they were too destructive. The same might be said of the air gun or parlor rifle, which in the hands of the reckless small boy is not only an effective but a dan- gerous weapon of destruction. Night hunting in all its forms, bait- ing, pursuing game with launches or even sailboats, are condemned by true sportsmen, and should all be prohibited. Trapping and netting should likewise be made illegal, but with some provision for taking a reasonable number of birds for propagation under the super- vision of competent state officers. Restrictions on the trade are becoming more general and more necessary every year. Prohibition of shipment out of the state is effective if it can be enforced, and it can be made easier to enforce if transportation of all game for market purposes is prohibited, as is done in Iowa and Texas, but with some provision for carrying a limited amount of game for private pur- poses. Sale is the keynote to the situation, and if it can be pro- hibited the question of protection will be greatly simplified. It is now prohibited in a number of states, and probably the day is not far distant when most if not all game birds will be withdrawn from sale. Non-game Birds. — Even more important than laws for the pro- tection of game birds (because applying to a much larger number of species) are the statutes for the preservation of birds which are not game, and which apply to ' song,' 'insectivorous/ and ' plume' birds. In order to accomplish their purpose they must be compre- hensive, and as already stated they should cover all birds except game birds and a few injurious species mentioned by name. If made applicable to certain species, or even to song, insectivorous, or plume birds, some species are sure to be omitted, and often these will be the very ones most in need of protection. Not only killing, but also nest robbing, trapping, possession, shipment, and sale should be prohibited. The traffic in cage birds, unless checked by strict regulations, may sometimes decimate certain species, particu- larly those distinguished for their vocal powers or bright colors. A provision prohibiting possession of plumage or ' any part of a bird ' is necessary to prevent sale of birds for millinery purposes, and overcome the objection which is sometimes raised that prohibitions against the killing and possession of a bird do not apply to its plumage or to one of its wings when used as a hat decoration. xlii INTRODUCTION On the other hand, provision must be made for collecting birds for scientific purposes, both for educational institutions and for private collections, and also for keeping birds in captivity for study or as pets. These requirements can readily be met by having per- mits issued under the supervision of some state officer to properly accredited collectors and students. In case it is desirable to allow certain birds to be kept in captivity, sale and shipment out of the state should be prohibited in order to avoid abuse of the privilege and prevent wholesale bird-trapping for market.1 Injurious Species. — In every state there are a few injurious spe- cies from which protection should be withdrawn. In general these species comprise the English sparrow, great horned owl, goshawk, duck hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, Cooper hawk, crow, linnet or house finch, and occasionally some of the blackbirds. Sweeping provisions excluding hawks and owls from protection should be carefully avoided, as most of the species are beneficial, and a clause covering birds of prey in general without naming the injurious species will result chiefly in the destruction of those which are bene- ficial. It is useless to attempt anything more by legislation than simple removal of protection. No means have yet been devised by which an injurious species can be legislated out of existence, and the various methods which have been advocated have almost uniformly resulted in failure. Bounties for birds and eggs have little effect except to drain the state or county treasury. The Colorado hawk bounty, which was in force from 1877 to 1885, seems to have re- sulted chiefly in the diminution of the sparrow hawk, one of the most useful birds in destroying grasshoppers. The Utah bounty on English sparrows, in force since 1888, has not exterminated the spar- row in the state, and the provision of 1896, offering five cents per dozen for eggs, must have resulted disastrously to the native birds, for a year or two after it went into effect reports showed that in Weber County alone payments had been made on 990 dozen (nearly 12,000) eggs, while during the same period only 640 sparrows had been presented for bounty. The sparrow bounties in Illinois and Michigan and the hawk and owl bounty in Pennsylvania all failed to accomplish their objects, although each cost the state from $50,000 to $100,000. The expense attending bounty legislation can be readily illustrated by the records of payments for coyotes and 1 The bill prepared by the Committee on Protection of Birds of the American Orni- thologists' Union covers all of these points. See " Legislation for the Protection of Birds other than Game Birds," Bulletin No. 12, Biological Survey , U. S. Dept. Agricul- ture, pp. 56-60, 1902. INTRODUCTION xliii wolves in Wyoming, Montana, and California. The coyote bounty law in California remained in force only four years, but actually cost the state $187,485, while the claims filed aggregated about $400,000.! In the west bounties on birds are now paid only in Utah and Oregon, and in the latter state are restricted to cormorants and sheldrakes. Enforcement. — The enforcement of game laws depends largely on public sentiment. Although most of the western states have game wardens, the laws are not enforced as they should be. Better results are attained where local wardens are under the authority of a state officer or state board. Unfortunately the liberal appropriations neces- sary to meet the expenses incident to warden service are not often available, but game protection might be made almost self-support- ing if the money derived from licenses, fines, sale of contraband game, and similar sources, were all turned into a state game pro- tection fund instead of going into several different funds, no one of which is available for work of this kind. A potent influence in bird protection is the federal law popularly known as the Lacey Act, which went into effect on May 25, 1900. Under this act interstate commerce in birds killed in violation of local laws is prohibited, and through cooperation between federal and state authorities statutes which were formerly dead letters are now being enforced. The chief value of the law, however, lies in the interest in protection which it has aroused throughout the coun- try even among persons who formerly gave the subject no thought. Largely through its influence game protection is now being estab- lished on broader lines, rapid progress is being made in legislation, and the laws are better observed than ever before. 1 See Palmer, "Extermination of Noxious Animals by Bounties," Yearbook Dept. Agr. for 1896, pp. 55-68. Zliv INTRODUCTION BOOKS OF REFERENCE.1 GENERAL WORKS. AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION. Check-List of North American Birds. Third Edition (1910). AUDUBON, JOHN JAMBS. Birds of America. — Ornithological Biography. BAIRD, SPENCER F. Review of American Birds. Smithsonian Mis. Col. 1864-1866 ; U. S. and Mexican Boundary Survey, vol. ii. part ii. 1859. BAIRD, S. F.. CASSIN, J., and LAWRENCE, G. N. Pacific R. R. Reports, vol. ix., Birds, 1858. BAIRD, S. F., BREWER, T. M., and RIDGWAY, R. History of North American Birds. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 3 vols., Land Birds, 1874; 2 vols., Water Birds, 1884. BEDDARD, F. E. Study and Classification of Birds. Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1898. BENDIRE, CHARLES E. Life Histories of North American Birds. Smith- sonian Institution, 2 vols. 1892, 1895. (Land birds through Icteridae.) CASSIN, J. Illustrations of the Birds of Texas, California, etc., 1853, 1855, 1856. COOPER, J. G., and STTCKLEY, G. Pacific R. R. Report, vol. xii. No. ii. 1860. COUES, ELLIOTT. Bibliography of Ornithology, Part i., Faunal Papers, Appendix to Birds of Colorado Valley, 566-784, 1878 ; Parts ii. and iii., Systematic Papers, Bull. Geol. and Geog. Surv. Terr., Hayden, vol. v. Nos. 2 and 4, 1879 ; Part iv., Faunal Papers on British Birds, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. vol. ii. for 1879. — Birds of the Colorado Valley, U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr. 1878. — Birds of the Northwest, U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr. 1874. — Key to North American Birds, 5th ed., Dana Estes & Co., 1903. EVANS, A. H. Cambridge Nat. Hist., vol. ix., Birds. Macmillan Co., New York, 1899. FISHER, A. K. Rept. Orn. Death Valley Exped., N. A. Fauna No. 7, 1893. U. S. Dept. Agr. HEERMAN, A. L. Pacific R. R. Rept., vol. x. part iv. Nos. i. and ii., Birds, 1859. HENSHAW, H. W. Rept. Orn. Spec., Wheeler's Surv. for the Years 1871, 1872, and 1873. — Exp. West Hundredth Meridian, vol. v. chap. iii. Zo- ology, 1875. KENNERLY, C. B. R. Pacific R. R. Rept., vol. x. No. 3, Birds, 19, 1859. MERRIAM, C. H. Mammals and Birds. 6th Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr. 1872. NELSON, E. W. Rept. Nat. Hist. Coll. Alaska Arct. Sep., No. iii. part i., Birds, 1877. NEWTON, ALFRED. Dictionary of Birds. Macmillan Co., New York, 4 vols., 1893-1896. RIDGWAY, ROBERT. Birds of North and Middle America. Bull. No. 50, U. S. Nat. Mus. 1901, 1902. — Hummingbirds, Ann. Rept. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1890, sec. iii. 253. — Nomenclature of Colors, Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 1896. — Manual of North American Birds, J. B. Lippin- cott Co., Philadelphia, 2d ed. 1896. — Ornithology of Survey of 40th Parallel, U. S. Geol. Expl., part iii. 1877. STEJNEGER, L., and Others. Riverside Natural History, vol. iv., Birds, (1885.) Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 1 For additional books of reference see Addenda, p. 537. INTRODUCTION xlv TOWNSBND, C. H. Notes on Birds of Kowak River, and other portions of Alaska, Cruise of the Corwin, 1885. TURNER, L. M. Contr. to Nat. Hist. Alaska, Arctic Ser. No. ii. 1886. WOODHOUSE, S. W. Rept. Sitgreaves Exped. Zufti and Colo. Rivers, 1853. PERIODICALS. AMERICAN FIELD. American Field Publishing Company, 801 Masonic Temple, Chicago. AUK, THE. For subscriptions and Index to Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club and Auk, Vols. I-XVII (1876-1900), address Dr. Jonathan Dwight, Jr., 134 West 71st St., New York. BiRD-LoRE. D. Appleton & Co., Harrisburg, Pa. BULLETIN OF THE COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. (See Condor.) BULLETIN OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. Cambridge, Mass., 1876-1883. (See Auk.) CONDOR, THE. For subscriptions and Index to Vols. I-X (1900-1908) address J. Eugene Law, Hollywood, California (vol. i. published as Bull. Cooper Orn. Club). FOREST AND STREAM. 127 Franklin St., New York. NIDOLOGIST, THE. Alameda, California, 1893-1896. ORNITHOLOGIST AND OOLOGIST. Hyde Park, Mass., 1881-1892. OSPREY, THE. Washington, D. C., Sept., 1896-July, 1902. PROCEEDINGS CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. Cal. Acad. Sci., San Francisco, California. OUTDOOR WORLD AND RECREATION. Nos. 2-8 Duane Street, New York. ZOE. San Diego, California, 1st ser. 1890-1894. STATE LISTS. Arizona. — COUES, ELLIOTT. Birds of Fort Whipple, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. xviii. 1865, 1866 ; Birds of Colorado Valley, U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr. 1878. — HENSHAW, H. W. Annotated List of Birds of Arizona, Expl. and Surv. West 100th Meridian, 1875. — MEARNS, E. A. Avi- fauna of Portions of Arizona, Auk, vii. 45, 251, 1890. — MERRIAM, C. H., San Francisco Mountain Region and Desert of Little Colorado, N. Am. Fauna, No. 3, Biol. Surv. U. S. Dept. Agr. — SCOTT, W. E. D. Notes from Mountains of Southern Arizona, Auk, ii. 348, 1885. Avi- fauna of Final County, with Remarks on Birds of Pima and Gila Coun- ties, Auk, iii. 249, 383, 421 ; iv. 16, 196 ; v. 29, 159. British Columbia. — CHAPMAN, F. M. Collection of Birds of British Columbia, by C. P. Streator, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. vol. 3, No. i. 1890. — FANNIN, JOHN. Check-List of British Columbia Birds, Provincial Mu- seum, 1898. — OSGOOD, W. H. Natural History of Queen Charlotte Islands, N. Am. Fauna, No. 21, Biol. Surv. U. S. Dept. Agr. Canada. — MACOUN, JOHN. Catalogue of Canadian Birds, Geol. Surv. Canada, 1900. California. — General. BELDING, LYMAN. Land Birds of the Pacific District, Cal. Acad. Sci., San Francisco, 1890. — COOPER, J. G. Orni- thology of California, Geol. Surv. Calif. 1870. — GRINNELL, JOSEPH. Check-List of California Birds, Pacific Coast Avifauna, No. iii. 1902. — Looms, L. M. Calif ornia Water Birds, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. Ser. 2 and 3, 1895, 1896, 1900. — Local. BARLOW, C., and PRICE, W. W. List of Birds, Placerville to Lake Tahoe, Condor, iii. 150, 1901. — BLAKE, E. W. Summer Birds of Santa Cruz Island, Auk, iv. 328, 1887. — BRYANT, WALTER. Birds and Eggs from the Farallon Islands, Proc. Cal. Acad. 2d Ser. i. 1888. — COOPER, J. G. Additions to Birds of Ventura County, Auk, iv. 85, 1887 ; Calif ornian Garden Birds, Am. Nat. x. No. 2, 90, xlvi INTRODUCTION 1876. — EVERMANN, B. W. Birds of Ventura County, Auk, iii. 86, 179, 1^86. — GRIKNELL, JOSEPH. Birds of Pacific Slope of Los Angeles County, Pasadena Acad. Sci. No. ii. 1898. — KEELER, CHAS. A. Bird Notes Afield, Elder & Shepard, San Francisco, 1889. — McGREGOR, R. C. Land Birds of Santa Cruz County, Pac. Coast Avifauna, No. 2, 1901. — MERRIAM, C. H. Biological Survey of Mount Shasta, N. Am. Fauna, No. 10, Biol. Surv. U. S. Dept. Agr. — OBERHOLSER, H. C. Birds from Santa Barbara Islands, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. vol. xxii. No. 1195, 205, 1900. — TAYLOR, H. R., and BARLOW, C. Story of the Farallones, Alameda, Cal., 1897. — TOWNSEND, C. H. Field Notes on Mammals, Birds, and Reptiles of Northern California, Birds, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. x. 190, 1887. — VAN DENBURGH, JOHN. Birds Observed in Cen- tral California in 1893, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1898 : Birds of Santa Clara County, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. vol. xxxviii. 157, 1899. Colorado. — COOKE, W. W. Birds of Colorado, State Agr. Coll. Bull. 37, 1897 ; 44, 1898 ; 56, 1900. — DREW, F. M. Vertical Range of Birds in Colorado, Auk. ii. 11, 1885. Hudson Bay. — PREBLE, EDWARD A. Biological Investigations of Hudson Bay Region, N. Am. Fauna, No. 22, U. S. Dept. Agr. 1902. Idaho. — MERRIAM, C. H. Biological Reconnoissance of South Central Idaho, N. Am. Fauna, No. 5, U. S. Dept. Agr. — MERRILL, J. C. Notes on Birds of Fort Sherman, Auk, xiv. 347, 1897 ; xv. 14, 1898. Kansas. — Goss, N. S. Birds of Kansas, Crane & Co., Topeka, Kan., 1891. Lower California. — BELDING, LYMAN. Catalogue Coll. Birds from Western Coast and Cape Regions of Lower California, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. vol. v. 527, 1882. — BREAVSTER, WILLIAM. Birds of Cape Region, Lower California, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. xli. 1, Sept. 1902. — BRYANT, WALTER. Catalogue of Birds of Lower California, Mexico, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 1889. Manitoba. — THOMPSON, E. E. Birds of Manitoba, Proc. U. S. Nat Mus. vol. xiii. 458, 1890. Montana. — COOPER, J. G. Fauna of Montana, Am. Nat. ii. and iii. 1869. — RICHMOND, CHARLES W., and KNOWLTON, F. H. Birds of South Central Montana, Auk, xi. 298, 1894. — SILLOWAY, P. M. Sum- mer Birds of Flathead Lake, University Montana, Bull. No. 3, Biol. Ser. i. 1901. — THORNE, P. M. Birds of Fort Keogh, Auk, xii. 211, 1895. Nebraska. — BRUNER, LAWRENCE. Notes on Nebraska Birds, Neb. State Horticult. Soc. 1896. — WALCOTT, R. H. Corrections to Bruner, Proc. Neb. Orn. Union. Nevada. — FISHER, A. K. Ornithology of Death Valley Exp., from N. Am. Fauna, No. 7, 1893, U. S. Dept. Agr. — HOFFMAN, W. J. Birds of Nevada, Bull. Geol. and Geog. Surv. vol. vi. No. 2, Hayden Surv. 1881. New Mexico. — ANTHONY, A. W. Birds of Southwestern New Mex- ico, Auk, ix. 357, 1892. — HENRY, T. C. Catalogue of Birds of New Mexico, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. xi. 104, 1859 ; Notes on Birds of New Mexico, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. vii. 306, 1855. — HENSHAW, H. W. Birds of Upper Pecos River, Auk, ii. 326, 1885 ; iii. 73, 1886. MITCHELL, W. I. Birds of San Miguel County, Auk, xv. 306, 1898. Oregon. — ANTHONY, A. W., Birds of Washington County, Auk, iii. 161, 1886. — BELDING, LYMAN. Birds of Pacific Coast, California Acad. bci., San Francisco, 1890. — BENDIRE, CHARLES E. Notes on Birds of Southeastern Oregon, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. xix. 1877, 109. — MERRILL, J. C. Birds of Fort Klamath, Auk, v. 139, 251, 357, 1888. — TOWNSEND, J. K. Catalogue Birds of Oregon, Narrative Journ. across INTRODUCTION xlvii Rocky Mts., Appendix, Perkins & Marvin, Boston, 1839. — WOODCOCK, A. R. Annotated List of Birds of Oregon, Ore. Agr. Exper. Station, Bull. No. 68, 1902, Corvallis, Ore. South Dakota. — GRINNELL, G. B. Ludlow's Rept. Reconn. Black Hills, Zool. Rept. chap, ii., Birds, 1875. — McCnESNEY, C. E. Birds of Cotean des Prairies of Eastern Dakota, Forest and Stream, vol. viii. 176, 192, 224, 214, 261. Texas. — ATTWATER, H. P. Birds of San Antonio, Auk, ix. 337, 1892. — BROWN, N. C. Second Season in Texas, Auk, i. 120, 1884. — CHAPMAN, F. M. Birds of Corpus Christi, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Hi. No. 2, art. xxii. 315. — LLOYD, W. Birds of Tom Green and Concho Counties, Auk, iv. 181, 289, 1887. — MERRILL, J. C. Notes on Texan Birds, Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, i. No. iv. 88, 1876. — SENNETT, G. B. Notes on Orni- thology of Lower Rio Grande, Bull. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr. iv. No. i. 1, 1878; v. No. 3, 371, 1879. Utah. — HENSHAW, H. W. Annotated List of Birds of Utah, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. xi. 1874, 1 ; Notes on the Bird Fauna of the Salt Lake Valley, Bull. Essex Inst. v. No. ii. xi. 168, 1873. Washington. — COOPER, J. C., and SDCKLEY, G. Birds of 47th and 49th Parallels, Pacific R. R. Rept. vol. xii. book ii. part iii. No. 3, 1860. — DAWSON, W. L. Birds of Okonogan County, Auk, xiv. 168, 1897 ; Birds of Yakima County, Wilson, Bull. New Ser. vol. ix. No. 2, No. 39, 1902. — KOBBE, W. H. Birds of Cape Disappointment, Auk, xvii. 349, 1900. — LAWRENCE, R. H. Birds of Gray's Harbor, Auk, ix. 39, 352, 1892. — RATHBDN, S. F. Birds of Seattle, Auk, xix. 131, 1902. — RHOADS, S. N. Notes on Washington and British Columbia Birds, Auk, x. 16, 1893. Wyoming. — GARY, MERRITT. Birds of Black Hills, Auk, xviii. 231, 1901. — KNIGHT, WILBUR C. Birds of Wyoming, University of Wyo- ming, Laramie. Bull. No. 55. Sept. 1902. SPECIAL SUBJECTS AND POPULAR WORKS. SPECIAL SUBJECTS. Bird Protection. A. 0. U. COMMITTEE ON BIRD PROTECTION. Annual Repts., Auk, xiv. 21, 1897; xv. 81, 1898; xvi. 55, 1899; xvii. 51, 1900; xviii. 68, 1901 ; xix. 31, 1902. — Game Laws in Brief, Forest and Stream Publishing Co. (Quarterly), New York. — PALMER, T. S., and OLDYS, H. W. Digest of Game Laws, 1901, Bull. 16, Biol. Surv. U. S. Dept. Agr. Game Laws for 1902, Farmer's Bull. No. 160, U. S. Dept. Agr. — PALMER, T. S. Legislation for the Protection of Birds other than Game Birds, Bull. No. 12, Biol. Surv., revised ed. 1902. — LANGE, D. Our Native Birds, How to Protect them and Attract them to our Homes, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1899. — MASEFIELD, J. R. B. Wild Bird Pro- tection and Nesting Boxes, Taylor Bros., Leeds, England, 1897. — Bird- Lore, Audubon Department, D. Appleton & Company, Harrisburg, Penn. — BABCOCK, C. A. Bird Day ; How to Prepare for It, Silver, Burdett & Co., New York and Boston, 1901. Food of Birds. Publications of Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agriculture. — BE AL, F. E. L. Food of Woodpeckers, Bull. No. 7, 1895. — Food of Bobo- link, Blackbirds, and Grackles, Bull. No. 13, 1900 ; Some Common xlviii INTRODUCTION Birds in their Relation to Agriculture, Farmer's Bulletin, No. 54 ; Crow Blackbirds and their Food, Yearbook for 1894 ; The Meadowlark and Baltimore Oriole, Yearbook for 1895 ; The Blue Jay and its Food, Year- book for 1896 ; Birds that Injure Grain, Yearbook for 1897 ; The Food of Cuckoos, Bull. No. 9, 1898 ; How Birds affect the Orchard, Yearbook for 1900. — FISHER, A. K. Hawks and Owls from the Standpoint of the Farmer, Yearbook for 1894 ; Two Vanishing Game Birds, Wood- cock and Wood Duck, Yearbook for 1901. — JUBD, S. D. Four Common Birds of the Farm and Garden, Yearbook for 1895 ; The Food of Shrikes, Bull. No. 9, 1898 ; The Food of Nestling Birds, Yearbook for 1900 ; The Relation of Sparrows to Agriculture, Bull. No. 15, 1901. — MEKBIAM, C. H., and BARROWS, W- B. The English Sparrow in America, Bull. No. 1, 1889. — PALMER, T. S. A Review of Economic Ornithology in the United States, Yearbook for 1899. Migration. BAIRD, S. F. Distribution and Migration N. Am. Birds, Am. Journ. ScL Arts, vol. xli., Jan. 1866. — BELDING, LYMAN. Land Birds of Pacific Coast District, Cal. Acad. Sci., San Francisco, 1890. — BREWSTER, WIL- LIAM. Bird Migration Memoirs Nutt. Orn. Club, Cambridge, Mass., 1886. — CHAPMAN, F. M. Remarks on Origin of Migration, Auk, xi. 12, 1894. — COOKE, W. W. Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley, Div. Econ. Orn. Bull No. 2, U. S. Dept Agr. — GATKE, H. Heligoland, David Doug- las, Edinburgh, 1895. — LOOMIS, L. M. Water Birds of California, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci., San Francisco. — STONE, WITMER. Bird Waves and their Graphic Representation, Auk, viii. 194, 1891 ; Graphic Representa- tion of Bird Migration, Auk, vi. 139, 1889. See, also, sections on Migra- tion in Chapman's Bird-Life and Newton's Dictionary of Birds. Moult and Protective Coloration. CHADBOURNE, A. P. Individual Dichromatism in Megascops asio, Auk, xiii. 321, 1896 ; xiv. 33, 1897. — CLARKE, H. L. Pterylography of the Ca- primulgidae, Auk, xviii. 167, 1901. — D WIGHT, JONATHAN, JR. Moult of Quails and Grouse, Auk, xvii. 143, 1900 ; Plumage Cycles and Relation between Plumages and Moults, Auk, xix. 248, 1902 ; Sequence of Moults and Plumages of Laridae, Auk, xviii. 49, 1901 ; Sequences of Plumages and Moults of Passerine Birds, Annals New York Acad. Sci. vol. xiii. 77, 1896. — STONE, WITMER. Moulting of Birds, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1896, 108 ; Moult and Alleged Color Change in Birds, Ibis, Apr. 1901, 177 ; Summer Moulting of Plumage of Certain Ducks, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1899, 467. See, also, Newton's Dictionary, Moult, and Chapman's Bird-Life, chap, iii., Colors of Birds. Nests and Eggs. BENDIRE, CHARLES E. Life Histories of North American Birds, 2 vols. Smith. Inst. 1892, 1895. — DA VIE, OLIVER. Nests and Eggs of North American Birds, 5th ed. Landon Press, Columbus, Ohio, 1898. See, also, the Condor, Osprey, and Nidologist. BICKNELL, E. P. A Study of the Singing of our Birds, Auk, i. 60, 126, 209, 322, 1884 ; ii. 144, 249, 1885. — CHENEY, S. P. Wood Notes Wild, Lee & Shepard, Boston, 1892. — OLDYS, H. W. Parallel Growth of Bird INTRODUCTION xlix and Human Music, Harper's Monthly, August, 1902, vol. cv. No. dcxxvii. 474. — WITCHELL, CHARLES A. Evolution of Bird-Song, Adam & Charles Black, London, 1896. POPULAR BIRD BOOKS. BASKETT, J. N. The Story of the Birds, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1897. — BURROUGHS, JOHN. Wake-Robin ; Fresh Fields ; Birds and Poets ; Locusts and Wild Honey ; Pepacton ; Winter Sunshine ; Signs and Seasons ; Riverby, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. — CHAPMAN, FRANK M. Bird Life (popular colored ed.), 1902 ; Bird Studies with a Camera, 1900 ; Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America, 1895, D. Appleton & Co., New York. — ECKSTORM, FANNIE HARDY. The Bird Book, D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1901; The Woodpeckers, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1901. — ELLIOT, D. G. Shore Birds, 1895 ; Game Birds. 1897 ; Wild Fowl, 1898, Francis P. Harper, New York. — HERRICK, FRANCIS H. Home Life of Wild Birds, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1901. — JOB, HERBERT K. Among the Water-Fowl, Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 1902. — KEELER, CHARLES A. Bird Notes Afield, Elder & Shepard, San Francisco, 1889. — KEYSER, LEANDER S. Birds of the Rockies, A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1902. — LORD, W. R. Birds of Oregon and Washington, J. K. Gill Company, Portland, Oregon, revised edition, 1902. — MERRIAM, F. A. A-Birding on a Bronco, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1896. — MILLER, OLIVE THORNE. Bird- Ways; In Nesting Time ; Little Brothers of the Air ; A Bird-Lover in the West ; Upon the Tree-Tops ; First Book of Birds ; Second Book of Birds, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. — TORREY, BRADFORD. Birds in the Bush ; A Rambler's Lease ; The Foot-Path Way ; Everyday Birds, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. — SANDYS and VAN DYKE. Upland Game Birds, Macmillan Co., New York, 1892. — VAN DYKE, T. S. Game Birds at Home, Fords, Howard & Hulbert, New York, 1895. — WRIGHT, MABEL OSGOOD. Birdcraft, 2d ed., Macmillan Co., New York, 1899. — WRIGHT, MABEL OSGOOD, and Dr. ELLIOTT COUES. Citizen Bird, 2d ed., Macmillan Co., New York, 1900. USE OF THE KEYS. If you are a beginner with a bird to identify, and do not know the orders into which birds are divided, go first to the Key to Orders, pp. 1,2. If your bird is a plover, you may not be sure whether it is classed with the water or land birds ; so begin with the Key to Water Birds. This key, as all others in the book, is dichotomous, that is to say, at every step the birds are divided into two classes, which have or have not a given character — birds are black or they are not black, they have crests or they have not crests, their feet are webbed or their feet are not webbed. At each step of the key a number and its prime are used to set apart the two classes. In the case of the Key to Orders of Water Birds the first two classes are birds which have 1. Feet fully webbed. 1 INTRODUCTION 1'. Feet incompletely or not at all webbed. If the bird you want to name has fully webbed feet, read down the key from 1 ; if not, go to 1', and read down. The numbers fol- low consecutively from each heading. In this case the birds with fully webbed feet are divided again into several classes, and those without fully webbed feet also have subdivisions. 1 Feet fully webbed (except Grebes in Pygopodes, which have the toes lobed or margined). 2. Foot with three webs, all four toes connected. Steganopodes : Totipalmate Swimmers, p. 3. 2'. Foot with two webs, three front toes connected. 3. Nostrils tubular . Tubinares : Tube-nosed Swimmers, p. 3. 3'. Nostrils not tubular. 4. Edges of mandibles toothed or serrate. Anseres : Lamellirostral Swimmers, p. 3. 4'. Edges of mandibles not toothed or serrate. 5. Legs placed far back, wings short. Pygopodes : Diving Birds, p. 2. 5'. Legs placed near middle of body ; wings long and pointed. Longipennes : Long-winged Swimmers, p. 2. 1'. Feet incompletely or not at all webbed. 2. Lores and ring around eye naked. Herodiones : Herons, Storks, and Ibises, p. 4. 2'. Lores and ring around eye feathered. 3. Hind toe long and approximately on a level with front toes (except in Cranes which are over three feet long). Faludicolee : Cranes, Rails, Coots, Gallinules, etc., p. 4. 3'. Hind toe short and elevated or absent ; bird never over twenty-six inches long Limicolee : Shore Birds, p. 4. Read down the key, passing the orders to which it does not belong till you come to the order to which it does belong. For in- stance, if your bird is a duck it has feet fully webbed (1), with two webs, three front toes connected (2'), nostrils not tubular (3'), and edges of mandibles toothed or serrate (4). It belongs to the Order Anseres : Lamellirostral Swimmers. If , on the other hand, the bird you want to name is a great blue heron, as it has not fully webbed feet, you throw out 1 and all its subdivisions, passing on to 1', — feet incompletely or not at all webbed. The first subdivision here is 2. Lores and ring around eye naked. Herodiones : Herons, Storks, and Ibises. You know if there is a naked ring around the eye, and to find what lores means you turn to the diagram of a bird, p. 1. When you find that your bird belongs to Order Herodiones, turn to the page given (4), where you will find a key to the families in the order. INTRODUCTION li Read down this as before, when, by throwing out the families to which it does not belong, you come to Ardeidce — 2'. Bill straight and sharp, neck and most of head feathered, to which it does belong. Go now to the page specified (72), and run down the Key to Genera, contained in Family ArdeidaB, and you find that it belongs to the genus Ardea, to which you are referred (p. 74). Here you find the general characters of the genus and a key to its species. As you know the bird is bluish gray and its size large you find it to be Ardea herodias, of which a detailed description is given (p. 75). If you have been identifying a bird that you have shot, you will have your own fresh measurements to compare with those in the description (see page xxvii.). In some of the more obscure birds you will find on getting to the description of the species that you have made a mistake in running down the keys, but by patience and care in following them you will be able to identify all but the most difficult birds. After a little study you will grasp the general classification of birds so that it will not be necessary to go through the whole series of keys for each bird. You may not know what it is, but you know many things that it is not, and if you make a practice of eliminating you will narrow down the possibilities so that it will be much easier to find your bird. You may not know whether it is a crow or a raven, but you do know that it is not a water bird, a hawk, owl, or sparrow, and so you can go on throwing out what you know it is not until you have to look up only those about which you feel uncertain. The question as to which subspecies a bird belongs to, unless de- terminable by geographic range, can often be decided only by expert ornithologists with large series of skins for comparison, and, in such cases, found often among some of the flycatchers, the song spar- rows, and wrens, the only way to be sure of your bird is to send it to a museum for identification. The National Museum in Washing- ton and the American Museum of Natural History in New York will both identify material sent them. Measurement of Bill Measurement of Tarsus Inner toe Middle toe TOPOGRAPHY OF A BIRD BIRDS OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES KEY TO ORDERS. WATER BIRDS. 1. Feet fully webbed (except grebes in Pygopodes, which have the toes lobed or margined). 2. Foot with three webs, all four toes connected. Steganopodes : Totipalmate Swimmers, p. 3. 2'. Foot with two webs, three front toes connected. 3. Nostrils tubular. Tubinares : Tube-nosed Swimmers, p. 3. 3'. Nostrils not tubular. 4. Edges of mandibles toothed or serrate. Anseres : Lamellh ostral Swimmers, p. 3. 4'. Edges of mandibles not toothed or serrate. 5. Legs placed far back ; wings short. Pygopodes : Diving Birds, p. 2. 5'. Legs placed near middle of body ; wings long and pointed. Longipennes : Long-winged Swimmers, p. 2. 1'. Feet incompletely or not at all webbed. 2. Lores and ring around eye naked. Herodiones : Herons, Storks, and Ibises, p. 4. 2'. Lores and ring around eye feathered. 3. Hind toe long and approximately on a level with front toes (except in cranes, which are over three feet long) . . . Paludicolae : Cranes, Rails, Coots, Gallinules, etc., p. 4. 3r. Hind toe short and elevated or absent ; bird never over twenty-six inches long Limicolae : Shore Birds, p. 4. LAND BIRDS. 1. Bill strongly hooked. 2. Toes two in front and two behind, outer toe permanently reversed. Fsittaci : Parrots, etc., p. 109. 2'. Toes three in front, or outer toe reversible. Raptores : Birds of Prey, p. 109. 1'. Bill not strongly hooked. 2. Hind toe small and elevated above front ones, or bill without soft swollen skin around nostrils. Gallinae: Gallinaceous Birds, p. 108. 2'. Hind toe developed and not elevated above front ones. 3. Bill with soft swollen skin around nostrils. Columbse : Pigeons or Doves, p. 108. KEY TO FAMILIES OF WATER BIRDS 3'. Bill without soft swollen skin around nostrils. 4. Toes always three in front, middle and outer ones never connected for half their length ; feet strong1. Passeres : Perching Birds, p. 110. 4'. Toes two or three in front ; if three, middle and outer connected for at least half their length, or feet small and weak. 5. Bill needle-like, or short, with wide gape . Macrochires : Goatsuckers, Swifts, and Hummingbirds, p. 11(X 5'. Bill not needle-like nor with wide gape. 6. Tail feathers stiff and pointed. Pici : Woodpeckers, p. 110. 6'. Tail feathers soft, with normal tips .... Coccyges • Cuckoos, Trogons, and Kingfishers, p. 109. KEY TO FAMILIES OF WATER BIRDS. ORDER PYGOPODBS: DIVING BIRDS. 1. Tail wanting ; feet not fully webbed. Fodicipidae : Grebes, p. 5. ^1'. Tail present, but short ; feet webbed. 2. Hind toe present Gaviidae : Loons, p. 9. 2'. Hind toe absent ...... . Alcidae: Auks, Murres, and Puffins, p. 11. Fig. 3. ORDER LONGIPENNES: LONG- WINGED SWIMMERS. Fig. 4. 1 . Upper mandible with distinct basal saddle. 4 Stercorariidae : Jaegers, etc., p. 17* 1'. Upper mandible in one piece. 2 Laridae : Gulls and Terns, p. 19. Fig.fi. KEI TO FAMILIES OF WATER BIRDS ORDER TUBINARES: TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS. s~ — • X> t X Fig. 7. 1 . Nasal tubes separated and at sides of bill. Diomedeidae : Albatrosses, p. 32 , A. V. Nasal tubes connected on top of bill. Frocellariidae : Fulmars, Shearwaters, and Petrels, p. 33, Fig. 8. ORDER STEGANOPODES : TOTIPALMATE SWIMMERS. 1. Bill straight and sharp, not hooked at tip. 1'. Bill strongly hooked at tip. Fig. 9. ngidae : Darters, p. 39. Hg. 10. 2. Tail deeply forked; space around eye feath- ered. Fregatidae : Man-o'-War Birds, p. 43. 2'. Tail not forked ; space around eye naked. 3. Bill narrow, with slight pouch at base. Phalacrocoracidae • Cormorants, p. 39. 3'. Bill wide and flat, with large pouch. Pelecaiiidae : Pelicans, p. 42. Fig. 12. ORDER ANSERES: LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS. 0. Short-legged swimmers Anatidae Ducks, Geese, and Swans, p. 44. 4 KEY TO FAMILIES OF WATER BIRDS ORDER HERODIONES: HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES. 1. Bill grooved along sides from nostril to tip. Ibididae : Ibises, p. 70. 1'. Bill not grooved along sides from nostril to tip. 2. Bill slightly decurved or else inclined upward toward end ; head and part of neck naked. Ciconiidae : Storks and Wood Ibises, p. 72. 2'. Bill straight and sharp ; neck and most of head feathered. Fig. 15. Ardeidae : Fig. 15. Herons, Bitterns, Egrets, p. 72. ORDER PALUDICOL^] : CRANES, RAILS, COOTS, AND GALLINULES. 1. Hind toe small and much elevated ; size large, wing 17 or more. Fig. 16 ...... Gruidae : Cranes, p. 78. W 1'. Hind toe long, nearly on a level with front toes ; / size small, wing 10 or less. Fig. 17. Rallidae : -TVfrij/ Rails, Coots, Gallinules, etc., p. 79. Fig. 17. Fig. 16. ORDER LIMICOL^E: SHORE BIRDS. 1. Hind claw, if any, not longer than its toe. 2. Front of tarsus covered with transverse scutellse. Fig. 18. 3. Tarsus very thin, toes with lateral scallops or membranes. Phalaropodidae : Phalaropes, p. 84. 3'. Tarsus rounded, toes without lateral scallops or mem- branes. 4. Bill slender, longer than middle toe without claw. Scolopacidae : Snipes, Sandpipers, etc., p. 87. 4'. Bill stout, not longer than middle toe without claw. Aphrizidae : Surf Birds and Turnstones, p. 106. 2'. Front of tarsus covered with hexagonal or irregular scu- tellae. Fig. 19. 3. Tarsus more than twice as long as middle toe and claw. Recurvirostridae: Avocets and Stilts, p. 86. 3'. Tarsus less than twice as long as middle toe and claw. 4. Bill longer than tarsus, laterally compressed and wedge- shaped . . Haematopodidae : Oyster-catchers, p. 107. 4'. Bill shorter than tarsus, pointed, not laterally compressed. Charadriidae : Plovers, p. 102. 1'. Hind claw longer than its toe ; wing with spur. Jacanidae : Jacana, p. 108. GREBES 5 ORDER PYGOPODBS : DIVING BIRDS. (FAMILIES PODICIPID^E, GAVIID^E, ALCID^E.) FAMILY PODICIFID-SJ : GREBES. KEY TO GENERA. 1. Bill long1 and slender, tip not decurved. 2. Bill five or more times as long- as depth at base. JEchmophorus, p. 5. 2'. Bill less than four times as long as depth at base. Colymbus, p. 6. 1'. Bill short and stout, tip of upper mandible decurved. Podilymbus, p. 8. GENUS -ffiCHMOPHORUS. 1. -ZEchmophorus occidentalis (Lawr.). WESTERN GREBE. Head without side crests; bill slender; neck nearly as long1 as body. Adults : top of head and line down back of neck blackish ; back slaty gray ; throat and under parts sil- very white. Male : length 24-29, wing- 7.45-8.50, bill 2.60- 3.05. Female: smaller, bill 2.10- 2.48. Distribution. — From the Pacific to Manitoba, and from central Mexico to British Columbia and Alberta. Nest. — Floating- on the water, a raft of tule stems, grass, and water plants, with a slight depression in the centre. Eggs : 4 to 5, white. To find the western grebe at home go to the tale-bordered lakes of eastern Oregon. Creep through the tall grass and part the tules on the edge of a clear pond, and right before you on the water is the grebe, with its silvery throat, graceful form, and fiery eye. A sud- den motion of your hand, and the needle-like bill pierces the water and the bird disappears like a flash of light, to reappear a full minute later well beyond shot-gun range from shore. If you make yourself known less suddenly the grebe instead of diving sinks slowly and without a ripple, never to reappear except far away or in some hidden part of the tules. As you watch the birds out in the lake, popping up and remain- ing long enough for a good breath, then going below to stay a much 1 6 GREBES longer time, you wonder what they are finding. If you shoot one, a few tiny bones of minnows in its stomach mixed with the usual ball of feathers from its own breast tell part of the story and ex- plain its mermaid habits, slender head, long neck, and spear-like bill. But to get to the heart of the grebe's home you should wade out where the tules stand up to their necks in water. Here in the damp, saucer-shaped top of a floating island of tule stems, you find the eggs, warm and hastily covered with material from the sides of the nest. There is no bird in sight, but the large size of both nest and eggs serve to distinguish them from those of the smaller grebes. If you keep still for a little while a slender head and long neck may come up out of the water near you and a pair of keen eyes watch you anxiously for a moment, then quickly sink below again, to come up a little later on the other side. The grebes are rarely seen except on the water, but when, after much kicking and spattering, they are fairly launched on the wing, they have a steady rapid flight, and in migration make long jour- neys. VERNON BAILEY. GENUS COLYMBUS. General Characters. — Bill straight and sharp, never four times as long as its depth at base ; neck not nearly as long as body ; head sometimes crested. KEY TO SPECIES. 1. Size large, bill over 1.50 holboellii, p. 6. 1'. Size small or medium. 2. Small, bill .82 brachypterus, p. 8. 2'. Medium, bill about 1.00. 3. Bill deeper than wide at base ; head of adult in breeding plumage heavily crested auritus, p. 7. 3'. Bill wider tban deep at base ; head of adult in breeding plumage lightly crested calif ornicus, p. 7. Subgenus Colymbus. 2. Colymbus holbOBllii (Beinh.). HOLB