122 BULLETIN OF THE 



in their continuity and in their respective areas, the highest having an 

 arctic character and occupying only the partially snow-covered summits 

 that rise above the limit of tree-growth. But at present, the data at 

 hand are too few for a satisfactory attempt at an analysis of the char- 

 acters and limits of the several avian faunae of the Middle and Western 

 Provinces. 



I. List of Birds observed at Leavenworth, Kansas, from May 2 to 

 Mmj 11, and at Topeka, Kansas, from May 11 to May 24, 

 I<s71 ; with Annotations. 



The following list embraces one hundred and twenty-one species, of 

 which specimens of nearly all were actually collected. Though an 

 incomplete list of the birds of Eastern Kansas, and based on observations 

 made when many of the species were migrating, it is believed to con- 

 tain many facts of value, especially since no report has as yet been 

 made of the ornithology of this section of country.* Our collections at 

 Leavenworth were made principally in the heavy timber on the East 

 Leavenworth side of the Missouri River, opposite Fort Leavenworth. 

 A few specimens were collected on the west bank of the river, on tin; 

 military reservation between the fort and the city, where is also con- 

 siderable timber. Most of the water birds were obtained about a lagoon 

 on the Missouri side. In the forests the birds were excessively abun- 

 dant, both in species and individuals. Among them such southern forms 

 as Helminthophaga pinus, Oporornis furmosus, Wilsonia (= Myiodi- 

 octcs) mitrata, Thryothorus ludovicianiis, Icteria virens, Cardinalis vir- 

 ffinianus, and Lophophanes bicolor were conspicuously numerous, the 

 fauna being emphatically Carolinian.! Although the vegetation was 

 as far advanced the 1st of May as it usually is in Southern New 

 England the 1st of June, very few birds had commenced nesting, and 

 some of the later-arriving species had not yet appeared. By the 10th 

 of May nearly all the trees were in full leaf, and most of them were 

 leafing by the first of the month. The only nests found were tho.>e of 



* Since the above was written there has appeared a "Catalogue of the Birds of 

 Kansas," bj '.'.< fessor F. H. Snow, of Lawrence, Kansas. The list contains the name ol 

 239 species, yet some of the most characteristic the western half of the State 



are omitl <1. The author has attempted to indicate those "known to bree.l in the 

 State," but it h in this respect very imperfect, though still not without much value :i 

 st fauna! list. ! Sec Am. Nat, Vol. VI, LS72, p. 



: See Hull. Mik V. >mp 7 I., W II, \\ M3, 1*71 



