as inhabitants of the north-west coast*, making in all two hundred and
sixty-seven. Now, according to Temminck s Manual, there are three
hundred and twenty-six-f- birds which range in Europe to the northward
of the forty-eighth parallel; so that thé number of species that
remain to be detected in the Fur-countries will not, probably, much
exceed sixty ; and we have some reasons, connected with the circumstances
under which the collections were made for believing, that the
majority of these will prove to belong to the families of Sylviada,
Fringillidte, and Charadriadte. Several of the Procellaria are also
known to inhabit Hudson’s Bay and the Arctic Sea; but, from our
want of means of identifying the species, they have been omitted.
The same causes that tended to limit our means of collecting
operated, together with my previous ignorance of Ornithology, to
prevent my recording the habits of the species to the extent and with
* List .of species that frequent the north-west coast of America, from Pennant s Arctic Zoology;
with references to those described in this work:—
N13o9. Steller’s Crow, Nootka Sound. (Garrulus Stelleri
Sw., p. 294, hujus operis.)
151 Unalaschka Oriole. .
160 Red-headed Woodpecker. (Melanerpus erythroce-
phalus, p. 316.)
168 Three-toed ditto, Norton Sound. (Pious (Apternius)
—— ? p. 311 ? 313 ?)
169 Belted Kingfisher. (Alcedo alcyon, p. 339.)
177 Ruffed Honey-sucker, Nootka. ( Trochilus (SeZas-
phorus) rufus, p. 324.)
186 Norton Sound Bustard.
197 Varied Thrust. (Orpheus meruloides, Sw., p. 187.)
202 Unalaschka Thrush.
207 Chatterer, lat. 64° 30'. (Bombycilla garrula, p. 237-)
229 Unalaschka Bunting. (FringiUa arctica, Vigors,
Beechey's Birds, p. 20 ?)
230 Black-crowned ditto, Nootka Sound.
232 Unalaschka ditto (second species).
251 Ferruginous Finch, (a variety,) Unalaschka.
256 Norton ditto.
The Prince of Musignano and Mr. Vigors give,
Charadrius pluvialis, Chamisso Island, (p. 369.)
Mormon glacialis, Behr. Straits. (Bon., Syn., No. 379.)
Cerorhinca occidentalis, ditto. (In.)
N26o0. Cinereous Finch.
381 Black Snipe.- (Steller.)
394 Gaihbet Sandpiper, lat. 69£°.
397 Little ditto, Nootka, Sound. .
413 Tringa fulicaria. (Phalaropus fulicarius, p. 407 )
415 Plain phalarope. (p. 408.)
430 AntientAuk.
• 432 Tufted ditto. (Mormon cirrhatus, Bon., Syn., No.
378.)
431 Pigmy ditto, Behring's Straits.
433 Perroquet ditto, 1 ditto. {Phaleris psitaccula, Bon.,
435 Dusky, ditto, ) Syn., No. 376.)
434 Crested ditto, ditto■ (Phaleris cristatella, I d. p. 426.)
436 Marbled Guillemot. ( Uria marmorata, Id. No. 372.)
457 Ivory Gull, Behring's Straits.
463 Fork-tail Petrel, ditto-
473 Bering Goose. -’(Steller.)
497 Western Duck.
510 Gannet.
534 Giant Petrel,
in addition to the above,
Larus Sabinii, Behr. Straits, (p. 428 )
Diomedea fuliginosa, Aleutian Islands. (Vig., Beechey's
Birds, p. 89.)
Lewis and Clark, and tile authors we have mentioned in the text, indicate several others.
t The whole number of European birds described in Temminck’s Manual is three hundred and eighty,-
of which two hundred and thirty-five are land birds. Bonaparte’s Synopsis of the Birds of the United
States contains three hundred and eighty-two species, of which two hundred and fifteen are land-
birds ; and one hundred and sixty-seven belong to the orders of Grallatores and Natatores.
the accuracy required for the purposes of science. With the view of
obviating this defect in some degree, and of rendering the work more
popular, I began by introducing occasional extracts from the lively
and accurate pen of Wilson. I soon found, however, that a continuance
of this practice would have swelled the work to an undue size,
and have left no room for Mr. Swainson’s important and interesting
observations on natural arrangement. It was, therefore, laid aside;
and, at the suggestion of Mr. Swainson, the succeeding descriptions
were much and advantageously compressed*.
The discovery of the laws which regulate the distribution of the
species over the face of the globe, being one of the most important ends
of the publication of local Fauna, the scanty contributions of facts that
we have been enabled to make are thrown, for the greater facility of
reference, into a tabular form. The New World is peculiarly adapted
for researches of this kind; its two extremities, and almost every
intermediate zone, are accessible, and, it is to be hoped, will hereafter
be minutely investigated for the purposes of natural science. When
accurate lists of the resident birds in each region, and of the summer
and winter visiters, are obtained, many highly interesting and unexpected
deductions will doubtless be made, and much theoretical
reasoning exploded. The Prince of Musignano has performed a
great service to science in furnishing such a list for the neighbourhood
of Philadelphia-)-, of which we have availed ourselves in the
construction of the following table. Had it been in our power to
have drawn up an equally complete list for the Fur-countries, the
general movements of the feathered tribes through North America
would have been rendered apparent.
Birds are usually divided into migratory and resident, though comparatively
few in the Fur-countries are strictly entitled to the latter
appellation. The Raven and Canadian and Short-billed Jays are,
indeed, the only species which we recognized as being equally nume-
* The announcement at this period of two editions of Wilson’s inimitable work, by different
editors, at a price which will place them within the reach of every ornithologist, was a further inducement
to us to abstain from borrowing from it.
t Specchio C.omparativo delle Ornitologie di Roma e di Filadelfia, di C. L. Bonaparte, Principe
di Musignano. Pisa. 1827.
C