MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 165 



report that has as yet appeared respecting the ornithology of the Great 

 Salt Lake Valley is a list of thirty-one species contained in Stansbury's 

 Report,* prepared by Professor Baird from the collections made by 

 Captain Stansbury during his admirable survey of this region in 1849 

 and 1850. Since that time the region immediately under consideration 

 has undergone important changes. Through the industry and energy 

 of the Mormon emigrants, large portions of the arid plains that sur- 

 round the lake have been transformed, by irrigation, from a desert to 

 productive farms, abundantly provided with orchards and shade-trees. 

 So great a modification of the flora has, of course, induced a correspond- 

 ing change in the fauna, so that now many birds are common that were 

 formerly rare, especially among the granivorous and fruit-eating kinds. 

 At the same time the water-fowl have greatly decreased, and have 

 acquired the wildness characteristic of their tribe in the older settled 

 portions of the country. Ducks are still abundant, but, being subject to 

 constant persecution from juvenile and other sportsmen, their numbers 

 are said to be annually appreciably decreasing. 



The present list contains one hundred and thirty-seven species col- 

 lected or observed by Mr. Bennett and myself during five weeks 

 spent almost constantly ornithologizing. As almost every excursion 

 added to our collection one or more species we had not previously seen, 

 it is presumably more or less deficient for even the single month (Sep- 

 tember) during which most of our observations were made. 



TURDIDJS. 



1. Turdus migratorius. Common. Said to have been very rare in 

 the Great Salt Lake Valley when it was first settled, but having been 

 carefully protected, it has gradually increased in numbers till it is now a 

 common bird. Doubtless the successful cultivation of the smaller fruits 

 has also done much towards increasing its numbers, by attracting them 

 from less favoring localities. Many are said to remain here all the year, 

 though it is much more numerous in fall and spring than during either 

 summer or winter. Most of the specimens taken by us are much paler 

 than the robin of the East, some of them presenting an exceedingly pallid 

 aspect. 



2. Turdus Pallasi. One shot September 11th. 



3. Miraus carolinensis. Common. As numerous in the dense thickets 

 along the Weber River as I ever saw it at the East. 



* Stansbury's Exploration and Survey of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah, 

 1S52, pp. 314-325. 



