ON NORTH AMERICAN ZOOLOGY. 197 



resort of the anatidce. The anas hoschas has been found breed- 

 ing from the lower part of the Mississippi up to the extremity 

 of^the continent, but in greatest abundance beyond the 50th 

 parallel ; and the anser canadensis from the 44th parallel to an 

 equally high latitude, being also however most numerous in the 

 fur countries. The rest of the geese and many of the ducks 

 breed only within the arctic circle. The eider and king-ducks 

 remain at sea in the high latitudes all the winter, the yoimg only 

 going southwards to the coast of Labrador and the United 

 States. No others of the family winter higher than the 50th 

 parallel in America, though several species remain at that season 

 in Europe as high as the 60th degree of latitude. 



The Reverend Mr. Bachman has made some observations on 

 the effect of cultivation in influencing the movements of birds, 

 but we think that he goes too far when he attributes the recent 

 discovery of many new species within the limits of the United 

 States solely to the changes produced in the face of the countr}^, 

 for the more general diffusion of accurate ornithological know- 

 ledge ought not to be overlooked. Thus among the examples 

 of birds formerly rare but nov/ common in the middle states, 

 he quotes hirundo hinifrons, but this, (if identical with fulva, 

 which is generally admitted,) was taken by Vieillot on the coast 

 of New York, many years before the history compiled by Go- 

 vernor Clinton supposes it to have reached that state in its 

 gradual advance from the interior ; and the aborigines of the 

 more northern countries have no tradition of a time when it did 

 not breed on the perpendicular faces of their rocks. The sin- 

 gularity in its history is, that it should have so very recently 

 begun to quit the rocks and to put itself under the protection 

 of man, by building its nests under the eaves of houses. Ty- 

 rannus borealis {muscicapa Cooperii of Nuttall), vireo solitarius 

 and tringa himantopus, also newly detected in the United States, 

 breed in the uncultivated wastes of the fur countries. 



The migration of the feathered tribes from the " tierras 

 calientes" of the Mexican coast to the interior elevated plains 

 and peaks, " tierras templadas y frias," presents within a 

 smaller geographical range, as we have noticed in speaking of 

 the humming birds, all the phenomena that take place in the 

 extended flights from the intertropical regions to the arctic so- 

 litudes. 



REPTILIA. 



Catesby figured a portion of the North American animals of 

 this chiss, but we are indebted to the hibours of living naturalis.ts 



