15-i 



cation of tlie BiUldiii of the Nuftall Ornithological Club (now T/ie Auk), 

 liowever, iin opportunity was off'ereil i'or recoi'ding observations upon 

 our birds, and notes from Pennsylvania and New Jersey soon bei^an 

 to appear ill rapid succession. 



From 1.S76 to 1H85 the most prominent names in our bibliography 

 are Spencer Trotter, AV. E. D. Scott, Samuel N. Rhoads, Wm. L. 

 Cidlins, Wm. L. Abbott and Chas. H. Townsend, all of whom were 

 actively engaged in collecting specimens and recording their observa- 

 tions. From 188.5 to 1894 the names most prominent ai-e Dr. B. II. 

 AVarren, F. M. Chapman, Jonathan Dwight, Jr., Witmer Stone, J. 

 AVarren Jacol»s, AA^ E. Clyde Todd and Pliilip Laurent. 



Tlie first important local list of the birds of Pennsylvania or New 

 Jersey is the Bairds' list of the Birds of Carlisle (184;)); after this 

 came Beesley's Birds of Cape May Co. (18">7), Barnard's Birds of 

 Chester Co. (18(51), Cassin's Birdsof Delaware Co. (1802), Al)bott's 

 Birds of New Jersey (1868), and Libhart's Birds of Lancaster Co. 

 (1809). A\''ith the exception of the last two, these are scarcely more 

 than lists ot ?ianies. Libhart's is the best of all, though it contains 

 some errors. Abbott's list of New Jersey birds has very extensive 

 annotations, but is unfortunately very unreliable. 



TurnbuU's Birds of East Pennsylvania and New Jersey summar- 

 izes the knowledge of the birds of these States up to the time of its 

 issue in 18G9, and is a very carefully prepared list, though it, like 

 other works of the time, lacks the detailed data characteristic of lists 

 of the present day. 



Between the years 1869 and 1890 a number of lists of Pennsyl- 

 vania birds appeared. 



Thomas's Birds of Bucks Co. (1876) and Townsend's Birds of 

 A\''estmoreland Co. (1883) are little more than lists of species. Of 

 the four lists of Chester county birds which appeared during these 

 years, AA'"arren's (1879) and Michener's (1881) are much the best, 

 and ('ontain a gr^at deal of original matter. Pennock's list (1887) is 

 mainly coinpih-d from these two, while Ressel's (1889) is quite unre- 

 lialde. 



Gentry's Life Histories of the Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania, 

 which appeared in 1876, is a poi)ular work, but is very misleading in 

 manj' respects. 



In 1889 appeared the first edition of AA^arren's Report on the 

 Birds of Pennsylvania, and in 1890 the revised edition of the same. 

 This was the first "eneral work on the birds of the State since Turn- 



