Vol. 34, pp. 1-22 March 31, 1921 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



BIRDS OF THE WASHINGTON REGION. I 



BY MAY THACHER COOKE. 



It is probable that the files of the Biological Survey contain a 

 greater amount of data on the movements of birds about Wash- 

 ington than is available for any other section of the country. 

 These records, gleaned from various sources, extend over a 

 period of nearly eighty years, and from the late seventies are 

 nearly continuous. For the past fifteen years, through the 

 efforts of members of the Biological Survey and the local Audu- 

 bon Society and of other local ornithologists, very full notes 

 have been obtained on the spring migration of birds, but data 

 on the fall migration, especially of many breeding species, are 

 scarce. 



In 1861' Coues and Prentiss published a list of the birds of 

 the District of Columbia, containing 225 species. With the 

 publication of their revised List in 1883^ the number was 

 increased to 248. Dr. Richmond's list of 19023 records 291 

 species and subspecies and 1 hybrid. In 1908* under the title 

 "Bird Migration in the District of Columbia, " Wells W. Cooke 

 published a summary of the data then available, comprising a 

 table of the dates of migration and lists of permanent residents 

 and casual visitants. Five years later,^ under the same title, 

 he published a revised table for the spring migration. In these 

 two lists the number of birds known to have occurred about 



116th Ann. Rep. Smiths. Inst., 1861 (1862), pp. 299-421. 

 2Avifauna Columbiana, Bull. 26, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1883, pp. 1-133. 

 sBirds of Washington and Vicinity, L. W. Maynard; rev. ed., 1902. List by Dr. 

 Richmond, pp. 178-186. 



4Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XXI, 1908, pp. 107-118. 

 bibid., XXVI, 1913, pp. 21-26. 



1— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wa.sh., Vol. 34, 1921. (1) 



