Nebraska Ornithologists' Union 41 



N. AM. NEB. 



PER CENT PER CENT 



Pici ■ • 3.9 3.0 



Macrochires 2.9 2.2 



Passeres 49.3 51.2 



100.7 99.75 



Passerine families : 



Tyrannidae 3.0 3.5 



Alaudidae 1.2 1.0 



Corvidae 3.2 2.5 



Icteridae 2.8 3.2 



Fringillidae 15.8 14.9 



Hirundinidae 1-4 1.7 



Vireonidae 2.0 2.5 



Mniotiltidae 6.1 10.4 



Troglodytidae 2.8 1.7 



Mimidae 1.2 1.2 



Paridae 2.0 0.7 



Turdidae 2.5 3.0 



Certain facts developed by these figures might reasonably have 

 been inferred ; others, however, are not exactly what would have 

 been expected. 



Excluding the Odontoglossae and the Psittaci, where the num- 

 bers are so small as to permit of the drawing of no conclusions, 

 Nebraska has less than its share of Pygopodes, Tubinares, and 

 Steganopodes, which are in part or all marine ; of Columbae, 

 Coccyges, and Macrochires, which are of more southern distribu- 

 tion ; and of Gallinae and Pici, which seem to be rather localized 

 in distribution and tending to break up into more numerous local 

 forms to the south and west. On the other hand, the state has a 

 relatively large number of Anseres. Paludicolae, and Limicolae, 

 due to its position in the Mississippi valley, the great highway 

 for such birds in migration, and of Herodiones, which show a ten- 

 dency to straggle northward in summer along this same pathway. 

 Water birds, as a group, are relatively numerous in the state, also, 

 because of the general evenness of its surface over the greater 

 part of its extent and the number of ponds and sloughs which dot 

 its surface. The Raptores are numerous because of the abundance 

 of food, the sparse population of certain portions of the state, and 



