44 JOURNAL (3F THE 



What assistance the soil may give should the decomposition 

 take place there, or what aid the })Iant juices may lend to the 

 end desired, must be determined by more elaborate experimenta- 

 tion. 



Had the per cent, of soluble phosphoric acid been considera- 

 ble after the first rotting it was intended to carry on the rotting 

 further and see the effect of prolonged decomposition, but as the 

 effept brought about by thorough putridity was so insignificant 

 it was concluded that further investigation would be a loss of 

 time on these particular experiments. 



Contributions from the Biological Laboratory of the Univ. of N. C. 



No. VI. 



PRELIMINARY CATALOGUE OF THE BIRDS OF 

 NORTH CAROLINA, WITH NOTES ON SOME OF 

 THE SPECIES. 



GEORGE F. ATKINSON. 



PREFACE. 



Object of the catalogue. Previous to the work which was 

 undertaken to prepare the present preliminary catalogue, very 

 little systematic eifort had been made in the study of the birds 

 to be found in the State of North Carolina. Of the earlier 

 works mention should be made of Catesby's Natural History of 

 the Carolinas;* but this work covered an extent of territory 

 much larger than North Carolina, and included species which 

 belong to an entirely distinct fauna. 



*The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, aud the Bahama Islands, by Mark 

 Catesby. 1771. 



