•No, 1. — Birds of the Cape Region of Lower California. 

 By William Brewster. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In 1887 Mr. M. Abbott Frazar spent about nine months collecting 

 for me in Lower California. During this period be obtained upwards of 

 4,400 birds, among which were several new to science, besides a number 

 hitherto unknown from the Cape Region. Of the quaUty of his speci- 

 mens and of the industry and intelligence which he displayed in collect- 

 ing them it would be impossible to speak too highly. Indeed, it is 

 probable that no collection of equal size and excellence was ever before 

 accumulated by any one man within so short a space of time. The 

 skins are beautifully prepared, and the series representing the resident 

 or more characteristic Cape birds are sufficiently large to illustrate very 

 fully the individual, as well as age and seasonal, variations to which 

 each form is subject. Mr. Frazar failed, however, to secure many nests 

 or eggs and — what is even more to be regretted - — his field notes, de- 

 scriptive of the localities which he visited and of the habits, behavior, 

 and songs of their most interesting birds, are, in most respects, disap- 

 pointingly brief and inadequate. I have culled from his journals and 

 from the evidence supplied by his specimens, every fact or suggestion 

 which has seemed worthy of permanent record, and I have supplemented 

 the matter thus obtained by drawing freely on the published accounts of 

 other observers who have visited the same region, among whom Mr. 

 Xantus, Mr. Belding, Mr. Bryant, and Mr. Anthony are, of course, the 

 most prominent. 



The biographical material gathered from these sources includes, I 

 trust, all the information of obvious value and pertinence which is at 

 present accessible, but it is undeniably inconsiderable in quantity and 

 colorless in character. The simple truth is that the ornithologists who 

 have thus far visited Lower California have devoted most of their atten- 

 tion to collecting and preparing specimens and but very little to makuig, 



VOL. XLI. — NO. 1. 1 



