BIRDS OF NELSON COUNTY. 



most characteristic trees are beech, red and white oak, black 

 walnut, butternut, poplar, {Liriodendron tulipifera), sycamore, 

 black gum, dogwood, white elm, and hickory {Carya alba, to- 

 mentosa et glabra), and in some places there are dense and ex- 

 tensive glades of red cedar. 



The country is gently undulating, and is mostly in a high 

 state of cultivation. In summer the greater part of the small 

 water courses become dry, and there is a corresponding scarcity 

 of that desirable liquid. In ihe western part of the county 

 there are still many large tracts of wild, uncultivated land, 

 where such birds as the Pileated Woodpecker, the Ruffed 

 Grouse, and the Wild Turkey are still to be found. 



The list represents barely two-thirds of the birds that are, 

 doubtless, to be found here at one season or another, but it is 

 thoroughly trustworthy, as far as it goes, for no species has been 

 admitted on any but the best of evidence. Out of the one hundred 

 and seventy-one enumerated, the writer is personally responsible 

 for all but eight of them. He here takes the opportunity to say 

 that any information in regard to the birds of this and neigh- 

 boring counties, that may be in the possession of any one into 

 whose hands this paper may fall, will be gratefully received. 



The nomenclature followed in this catalogue may strike some 

 as being rather peculiar— which it doubless is— but I am merely 

 adopting the emendations and corrections that are being carried 

 out under the authority of the American Ornithologists" Union, 

 principally by Dr. Leonhard Stejneger, whose intimate acquaint- . ^ . 

 ance with the classical literature of ornithology fit him particu- n^^ 

 larly well for this difficult task. The reasons for aU of these 

 changes are clearly set forth in his "Analecta Ornithologica " 

 articles, already published and to be published in "■The Auk.'' 



The average ornithologist loves diversity in the closet as weU 

 as in the field— when he can't find a new bird to describe, he 



