1893.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 21 



THE BIRDS OBSERVED IN BRITISH COLUMBIA AND WASHINGTON 

 DURING SPRING AND SUMMER, 1892. 



BY SAMUEL N. RHOADS. 



It is proposed to present in the following pages an ornithologi- 

 cal resume of a collecting trip made in Washington and British 

 Columbia, from March 24 to September 3, 1892, together with an 

 annotated list of the birds observed in those regions. 



While ornithology claimed the greater part of my time, collec- 

 tions were also made of the mammals, reptiles, shells and plants of 

 the districts visited, concerning which further publications will prob- 

 ably appear in the " Proceedings." 



The bibliography of Washington and British Columbian ornithol- 

 ogy is very meagre. Since the Cooper-Suckley Pacific Railroad 

 Reports, nothing of much value relating to Washington birds has 

 been published except the local lists of Mr. R. N. Lawrence. 1 

 Publications relating especially to British Columbia birds may be 

 included under three titles: " The Naturalist in British Columbia," 

 J. K. Lord, 1866 ; " On a Collection of Birds made by Mr. C. P. 

 Streator in British Columbia," etc., 1890, F. M. Chapman; and 

 "Check List of British Columbia Birds," John Fannin, 1891. Of 

 these the second is authoritative, and based on authentic specimens 

 a remark which in the end equally applies to Mr. Fannin's list, some 

 of his most questionable statements being given on the authority of 

 other persons and his mistakes the evident result of not having con- 

 sulted series of specimens from different localities. Lord's list, given 

 in the appendix to volume second of his work, if judged by the 

 strictest standard of the modern faunal list is nearly worthless in the 

 present connection. It is based on many observations and a few 

 specimens taken on both sides of the forty-ninth parallel, between 

 British Columbia and Washington. On this account I am forced to 

 ignore it. Mr. Chapman's list includes 160 species, while that of 

 Mr. Fannin enumerates 308. To their combined lists I am enabled 

 to add twenty-one species coming under my own observation, seven- 

 teen of which are in the collection. With these additions, the British 

 Columbia list, after throwing out two synonyms (dEchmophorus 



1 Auk, Jan. and Oct., 1892. 



