A List of the Birds of Meriden, Conn, 



By Franklin Platt. 



With the mountains and wooded hills which constitute the 

 northern and eastern boundaries of Meriden, with the waters of 

 the Quinnipiac running through her borders, with the numerous 

 natural and artificial ponds — some of which are of no mean size — 

 which repose here and there in her valleys, and her alternating 

 stretches of meadow and woodland and an occasional piece of 

 swamp-ground, it would seem as if nature had provided her with 

 all the variety of physical features necessary to accommodate every 

 species of bird likely to be found in any inland town of the State. 

 And if the following list shall be found to be incomplete — if the 

 names of some birds liable to be found here have been omitted — 

 the chances, in my opinion are, that the omissions have occurred, 

 not because of the continuous absence of such species, but because 

 it has not been my good fortune either to discover their presence 

 or to obtain satisfactory evidence of their occurrence. 



As my studies of bird life have been so much confined to those 

 birds more generally found in our fields and woods, I have had to 

 rely to a considerable extent on such information as I could get 

 from other persons as to the occurrence of many of the water birds 

 on my list and some of the birds of prey. But in no such case 

 even have I relied on the mere conjecture of any person. And 

 where I have had doubts in the matter I have either omitted the 

 name of the doubtful species entirely, or have included it in the 

 list with such observations as tend to show the probabilities of its 

 occurrence. 



And right here I desire to acknowledge the indebtedness I am 

 under to Mrs. Nathan S. Baldwin — by referring to her collection 

 of stuffed birds I have had my doubts removed in more than one 

 instance; to the brothers George and Charles I. Foster and to 

 Franklin T. Ives, Esq., men of considerable experience as sports- 

 men in this vicinity, all of whom have given me valuable informa- 



