BIRDS OF THE CAMBRIDGE REGION. 8l 



his book does not contain more of them. He was without question an e.xcep- 

 tionally careful and accurate obscr\-er of everything which especially attracted 

 his attention. liis original descriptions of the habits and actions of birds are 

 invariably good, and his renderings of their songs and call notes rank among 

 the veiy best that have ever been published. 



It is probable that the period of Nuttall's greatest interest and activity in 

 the field study of birds was that during which he was engaged in writing the 

 'Manual,' and that his original contributions to this book are based very largely 

 on observations made in the immediate neighborhood of Cambridge. Indeed the 

 ' local coloring ' of much of the matter is unmistakable. Such portions of it as 

 clearly relate to his experience in the Cambridge Region afford testimony of the 

 utmost credibility and value, but these, unfortunately, are too fragmentary and 

 disconnected to give us any very clear idea of what the bird life of Cambridge 

 was like in Nuttall's time. Evidently he had no thought either of the desirability 

 of distinguishing the general from the local matter, or of the importance of 

 making the latter as full and complete as possible. In view of these facts we 

 should be cautious about laying too much stress on the negative testimony 

 afforded by his work, although there are cases, I think, where it is entitled to 

 consideration. 



It should be understood that all references to ' the Cabots ' in the text of 

 the present paper relate to Dr. Samuel Cabot and his brothers, Mr. J. Elliot and 

 Mr. Edward C. Cabot, all formerly of Boston. Samuel Cabot was born in Bos- 

 ton on September 20, 1S15. He entered Harvard College in 1832 (the year 

 when Nuttall's 'Manual of the Land Birds' was published). Before and during 

 his college days, as well as for a number of years after his graduation in 1836, 

 he gave a large share of his time to the pursuit of ornithology, making a con- 

 siderable collection of birds which was given, after his death, to the Boston 

 Society of Natural History. He went to Paris to study medicine and surgery 

 in September or October, 1839, returning to Boston in the spring or summer of 

 1841. In the winter of 1841-1842 he visited Yucatan with John L. Stephens,' 

 obtaining there several birds new to science, which he described. Not long 

 after this he began the practice of medicine in Boston. It absorbed more and 

 more of his attention, as the years went by, although he never lost his inter- 

 est in birds. Had he been able to devote his life to their study, he would, with- 



iThis was Stephens's second expedition to Yucatan, the first having been made in 1839- 1840. 

 Stephens published a two-volume work relating to each e.xpedition. The appendi.x to volume II of 

 the later work (Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, New York, 1858) has a brief chapter by Dr. Cabot, 

 containing a full list of the birds which he observed in Yucatan between October, 1841, and June, 

 1842. 



