PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued |^?(\vi. 0?Mil h '^^ 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 

 Vol. 88 Washington : 1940 No. 3089 



NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF KENTUCKY 



By Alexander Wetmore 



As A third project in the program to obtain specimens of birds 

 and mammals for the United States National Museum from the 

 eastern part of our country, the Museum carried on field work in 

 1938 in the State of Kentucky. W. M. Perry go, of the Museum staff, 

 continued in charge of the field party. During the spring he was 

 assisted by James Cole and in the fall by Herbert G. Deignan, of 

 the division of birds, and by Gregor Rohwer. The party left Wash- 

 ington on April 15 and remained in the field until July 15. In the 

 fall, work began on September 15 and ended on November 15. 



In the following account I have presented the results of a study 

 of the birds obtained, with records of all specimens taken. Also I 

 have included reference to a few other specimens from Kentucky in 

 the U. S. National Museum. Most of these were taken by Charles 

 Wicldiffe Beckham near Bardstown, Nelson County, and came many 

 years ago as a gift from the collector. For a long time these skins 

 constituted the only material from Kentucky in the collection. Wliile 

 Beckham published his observations^ it is pertinent to check the 

 identification of these specimens so far as they are available accord- 

 ing to modern understanding of the species covered. There are also 

 a few skins prepared by Edgar Alexander Mearns at Lexington (in 

 November and December 1898) and casual specimens from other 

 sources. 



^A list of the birds of Bardstown, Nelson Co., Kentucky. Journ. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. 

 Hist, vol. 4, July 1883, pp. 136-147. 



List of the birds of Nelson County. Kentucky Geol. Surv. (issued Sept. 1885, accord- 

 ing to an entry made on the cover of the copy in the division of birds, U. S. National 

 Museum), pp. 1-58. 



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