ON NORTH AMERICAN ZOOLOGY. 193 



eludes many birds of this family, but many of them are hatched 

 in the higher latitudes, to which, therefore, we consider them 

 as properly belonging. Compai'atively a small number spend 

 the winter within the United States, more than half have been 

 ascertained to enter the West India islands or Mexico, yet only 

 one (the setophaga ruticilla) is known to pass the isthmus of 

 Darien, so that there are few families in which the distinction 

 between the North and South American faunae are so evident. 

 Of the few ampelidce which belong to the North American 

 fauna, hombi/cHla carolinensis and vireo Bartramii are known 

 to visit South America. Bomhycilla garrula breeds at the 

 northern extremity of the continent, among the woods which 

 skirt the Mackenzie ; but its winter retreats are still unknown, 

 though they are most probably in the Mexican cordilleras. 



Lisessores, Couirostres. — The frvigillidce is another family 

 of which few species pass the isthmus of Darien from the 

 northern continent ; the pyranga ludoviciana, which attains 

 the 42nd parallel in the interior prairies, and saltator rufiven- 

 tns, which reaches the 36th on the coast of the Pacific, are the 

 only ones common to the United States and South America. 

 The euphonejacarina, also, and most probably some other Mexi- 

 can species, enter the southern fauna. Many of the frhigillidce 

 that breed in the high latitudes winter within the United 

 States ; some go to Mexico, and a few to the West Indies. 

 The einberiza nivalis builds its nest on the most northern lands 

 thathave been visited, and the alauda alpestris and emheriza lap- 

 ponica, likewise breed on the arctic coasts. The corvidce are com- 

 paratively little migratory, and the majority inhabit limited 

 districts of country, tliough two or three species are very 

 widely distributed ; none which enter the North American fauna 

 are known to pass the isthmus of Darien. T!ie stunddce, on 

 the other hand, form a closer bond of union between the inter- 

 tropical and northern faunae ; nearly all the North American 

 species winter in Mexico or the West Indies, one, the icterus 

 spurius, ranging as far south as Cayenne. The southern parts 

 of the United States, however, are within the limits of the 

 winter- quarters of molothrus pecoris, scolecophagus ferrugi- 

 iiens and quiscalus major, and versicolor. As cultivation ad- 

 vances in the fur-countries, the sturnidce attract ev^ery year 

 more and more the attention of the settlers on account of the 

 havock they make in the corn-fields ; but we are not prepared 

 to assert that the range of this family of birds northwards is 

 determined by the progress of agriculture. I am rather in- 

 clined to suppose that some individuals of the different species 

 have always resorted to those latitudes to feed on tlie wild rice 



VOL. v.— 1836. o 



