2 C. H. Merriam — Birds of Connectimtt. 



of those species by which the diiferent faunjB are distinguished, is 

 unquestionably governed, in great measure (as shown by Professor Ver- 

 rill),* by the temperature during the breeding season^ of the regions 

 in which they commonly breed. Hence the dividing lines between 

 faunoe do not follow, when placed on the chart, such smooth, regular 

 curves as serve to represent the isothermal lines (which show the 

 average temperature for the entire year), but more nearly coincide 

 with lines drawn to indicate the avei-age temperature during the 

 months of April, May, and June, — the period in which the great 

 majority of singing birds breed. It has been stated by Professor 

 Verrill that " a line drawn upon the map of Eastern North America 

 representing the mean temperature of 50° F., during these three 

 months, will coincide with the soiithern boundary of the Canadian 

 Fauna, as previously determined from the examination of the birds 

 breeding in that sub-division. Another line representing the tem- 

 perature of 65° will represent the southern boundarj^ of the Allegha- 

 nian Fauna,"* as distinguished from the Carolinian. 



The fact that, during the thirty-four years that have elapsed since 

 the publication of Linsley's " Catalogue of the Birds of Connecticut^'' 

 no enumeration of the birds of this State has appeared, is sufficient 

 excuse for the present attempt. Moreover, the Connecticut Acad- 

 emy resolved, some time since, to ])ublish a series of j)apers on the 

 fauna of this State, and Professor Verrill did me the lionor to request 

 that I should prepare, as the first of this series, " A Review of the 

 Birds of Connecticut," which I have done as well as the limited 

 time at my disposal would permit. 



In the year 1861, Dr. William Wood, of East Windsor Hill, Conn., 

 published, in the Hartford Times, a series of twenty-one admirable 

 and most interesting articles on our " Birds of Prey," and it is much 

 to be regretted that he did not, in like manner, take up the remaining 

 groups. A few brief notices of the occurrence of some of the rarer 

 species within our limits have, from time to time, appeared in the 

 American Naturalist and Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, 

 but nothing like a systematic list of the birds of the State has been 

 attempted. 



My object has not been to give the largest possible number of 

 species, but to represent faithfully our true knowledge of the Avi- 

 fauna of Connecticut. An acknowledged fault with most local lists 

 is that their authors include, not only those species which have 

 actually been detected, but also those which, from their occurrence 



* Am. Jour. 8ci. and Arts, vol. xli, p. 249, (Second Scries,) 1866. 



