BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 



203 



Coues ] in speaking of the bird, adds the words, "or Newfoundland." Mr. 

 William Brewster 2 comments on this as follows : "No one now connected with 

 the Academy is aware that this supposition rests on any substantial grounds, 

 and it was perhaps based wholly on the seeming improbability that a Ptarmigan 

 would wander so far south of its usual range. If this be true the long-accepted 

 doubt has been given undue weight. In any case the Manchester bird must 

 have come from somewhere on the mainland of North America, for it is a 

 perfectly typical Lagopus lagopus, a form not known to occur on Newfoundland, 

 where it is replaced by the closely allied but easily distinguished L. I. alleni." 

 Mr. Brewster tells me that it is common for these Ptarmigans to take long 

 flights of many miles. It therefore seems probable that the Willow Ptarmigan 

 deserves a place in the regular list and not in the list of introduced species 

 where it is placed by Howe and Allen. 



[306] Tympanuchus cupido (Linn.). Heath Hen; "Pheasant." Nuttall 3 speaks of its 

 being common on the "ancient bushy site of the city of Boston," so that it was probably found 

 by the first settlers in the woods of Essex County only some seven miles or more to the north. 



[310a] Meleagris gallopavo silvestris (Vieill.). Wild Turkey. A common bird in the 

 early days, but altogether too good on the spit to last long (see page 64). 



136 [315] Ectopistes migratorius (Linn.). 

 Passenger Pigeon ; " Wild Pigeon." 



Formerly abundant summer resident, now accidental or extirpated. 



This bird is considered at some length in the chapter on Ornithological 

 History (see page 65). Late records of this bird being seen are always open to 

 doubt for it is very easy to mistake the Mourning Dove for it. 



The latest records of birds shot that I can give for the County are my own, 

 two of which are of specimens in my collection. One of these I shot at 

 Magnolia, on September 4th, 1877, in some pine woods. It was a female, 

 young of the year, and Mr. Brewster, to whom I showed it at the time, said it 

 was "remarkably small." The other specimen, I shot at Magnolia in a pine 

 tree in a grove near the ocean, on July 1st, 1878. This was an adult male. I 



1 Elliott Coues : Proc. Essex Inst., vol. 5, p. 289, 1868. 



2 Wm. Brewster, ed. : Minot's Land-birds and Game-birds of New England, p. 403, 1895. 

 3 Thomas Nuttall : A Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and of Canada, vol. 1, p. 

 662, 1832. 



