INTRODUCTION 



The following list of North Dakota birds is the result of the observations 

 of several seasons, from the spring of 1890 to 1895 inclusive. The list is a 

 verbatim copy of one written in the winter of 1895-6 but has not been pub- 

 lished until now for various good and sufficient reasons. The list has been 

 supplemented and confirmed by the observations of the succeeding years. A 

 list made from notes made the past few years would show a great difference 

 in its comparative abundance or rarity of certain species, and no doubt such 

 a list with notes will be gotten out by some one in the near future. 



In 1895, from the last of March until August 1, my own observations were 

 supplemented and enlarged by reason of a party consisting of Dr. L. B. Bishop 

 of New Haven, Conn., W. H. Hoyt and John Shaler of Stamford, Conn., N. L. 

 Bigelow of Boston, Mass., and myself, being in the field every day collecting 

 and noting the migratory and breeding species of this territory, and it is 

 safe to say that very few, if any, passed through without some one of the 

 party getting a note of them. Notes were also taken and freely given to me 

 by Mr. E. S. Bryant who was collecting near Freshwater, Dry, and Devils 

 Lakes during the same period, confirming our own observations and adding 

 a few species, as credited to him in the list. Some 230 odd species were 

 given in the first list, but very few of which I have not collected myself. 

 Two of the sub-species were described as new by Dr. Bishop and have since 

 been admitted as good by the A. O. U. committee on classification of species, 

 namely: the Dakota Song Sparrow and Hoyt's Horned Lark. The list has 

 since been enlarged by the addition of some 20 species and sub-species as 

 will be noted in the list. In making up the list, I used the nomenclature and 

 numbering as given in the 1895 edition of the Amercan Ornithologists Union's 

 Check list of North American Birds. 



The following description of the territory covered by this list was made 

 in 1895-96. A description written now would not be recognized as covering 

 the same country. Taking Cando, Towner County, as a center, a radius of 40 

 miles would circumscribe the territory covered by this list, and the greater 

 portion of the species noted were taken within a radius of 20 miles. It is 

 classed as rolling prairie with no running streams, except in early spring 

 when the Mauvaise river or Big Coulee and its branches become quite a river 

 while the snow is going off, but they soon run down and during the summer 

 are but little more than a succession of water holes of varying size and depth. 

 The prairies are dotted all over by shallow sloughs formed by the drainage. 

 They usually evaporate by the end of May. They are the favorite feeding 

 places of the Sandpipers and Ducks. In the southeastern part of the county 

 are a succession of lakes of some size, known as Chain Lakes, the largest of 

 which are Lakes Alice and Irwin. Lake Alice is fringed with a growth of 

 trees and bushes on two sides, and is the only place in the county where any 

 trees of size can be found. 



A few miles north of Cando is a series of alkali ponds. These are shallow 

 and often dry up in summer time. While there is water in them they are 

 favorite resting and feeding grounds for the Sandpiper and Duck. Twelve 

 miles north is Snyder Lake, some four or five miles in length and a half mile 

 in width at its widest part. The south end is quite deep. The water in this 

 lake is very brackish although there is one quite large spring of good water 

 near the north end. The northern part of the lake is shallow and filled with 

 a growth of grasses and rushes common to this kind of a place. Ducks, 

 Grebes and Coots nest in numbers here, as well as other water loving birds. 



From Snyder Lake north there is quite a number of long, narrow sloughs 

 culminating in Rock Lake and probably connected during periods of very 



