42 



THE OOLOGIST. 



lislied by the Smithsonian Institution, we 

 tind 888 distinct species occurring within 

 the limits of Nortli America. These 

 species are included under 63 Families, 20 

 Sub-orders and 13 Orders. 



Now there are found in Maine, we are 

 told, 303 of these 888 species, but little 

 more than one-third of the entire number, 

 and one would certainly get a very insig- 

 nificant idea of the bird kingdom, where it 

 would be impossible for him, under the 

 most favorable circumstances, to get a 

 chance to examine more than one-third of 

 that kingdom. 



The truth, the whole truth, and nothing 

 but the truth, is an axiom that can be 

 profitablj' applied to birds. This, that has 

 been told us is the truth, and nothing but 

 the truth, but it is by no means the whole 

 truth. It is true that we can not get any 

 sort of an idea of one Family, Order, or 

 Sub-order by a study of the species belong- 

 ing to another, but it is equalh^ true that 

 in order to understand one Familj' we do 

 not need to have an intimate acquaintance 

 with every species of that Family, but a 

 single species is often sufficient, and some- 

 times a single species, provided it be a ty- 

 pical one, "will give a very fair idea of an 

 entire Order. What we want, then, is not 

 to know how many species a given locality 

 possesses, but how many typical species 

 there are to be found within its limits, and 

 this is something which depends in great 

 measure upon geographical position, the 

 typographical charadter of the country, 

 and its climatic peculiarities. 



Now, Maine is situated on either side 

 of the parallel of 45" of North latitude 

 right in the center of the North Temper- 

 ate zone. In this way it embraces the best 

 of the North Temperate fauna. Animal and 

 Vegetable, and also secures a portion of the 

 Torrid fauna from the South, and of the 

 Arctic fauna from the North. All of one 

 fauna and portions of two others is by no 

 means an insignificent opportunity for the 

 student of Orthiology. And then, in the 

 803 species found in Maine, are included 

 and represented 12 of the 13 Orders, the 

 single one not included, being the Parrots 



with which every one is familiar enough 

 as cage birds. This missing Order em- 

 braces but a single Sub-order and a single 

 Family. Of course these are both wanting 

 if the Order under which they occur is 

 wanting. Of the remaining 19 Sub-or- 

 ders, 14 are found in Maine. The 5 miss- 

 ing (mes are the Curassows, the Ibises, the 

 Storks, the Cranes and their allies, and the 

 Flamingoes. Now there are 63 Families 

 in all in North America, or if we detract 

 the 8 Families that come under the 5 miss- 

 ing Sub-orders and the one missing order 

 we have 55 families left; and we find 

 among our birds, representatives of 41 of 

 these or more than eight-tenths. 



Maine is therefore as well represented as 

 any single state and could well hope to be, 

 and probably as much if not more so than 

 any other single state. Although it is not 

 in the line of inland migration which lies 

 along the Mississippi Valley, it is yet di- 

 rectly in the line of sea shore migration 

 from the Gulf States, the Gulf of Mexico 

 and the West Indies northward to the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence, the Provinces, Canada, 

 Labrador and the great North East. No 

 state can be in both lines, and this sea coast 

 one is presumably the preferable. Being 

 so directly in the line of sea shore migra- 

 tion one would naturally suppose that the 

 the majority of the 303 species which we 

 have given as found in Maine, would be 

 migrate and so they are. 



There are but 33 species resident in 

 Maine throughout the year, leaving 270 as 

 visitors from elsewhere. Of these 113 are 

 migrants from the South and breed regu- 

 larly in Maine, 21 are from the North and 

 come into the state only in winter. The 

 remaining 136 are stragglers, mainly from 

 the Tropics or the Arctic regions and are 

 found in Maine, some like the Mocking- 

 bird and the Vvilture, only once in a cen- 

 tury, others like the Fox Sparrow, the 

 Coot, and the Plover, appearing regularly 

 every spring or fall or both, but never at 

 other times. The representatives that oc- 

 cur here in Maine are all typical ones, and 

 thus give one as good an idea of the bird 

 kingdom as could be got by traveling a 

 thousand miles through foreign lands. In- 

 deed, the new species to be met with out- 

 side of the state are abnormal mainly, and 

 of interest chiefly as curiosities, and not as 

 representative species. 



C. B. Wilson, 



Benton Harbor, Me. 



