198 N. C. AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



tions in climate and physical characteristics give us, in a great de- 

 gree, our varied bird-life. In the higher mountains ours somewhat 

 resemble the Canadian avian jaiina^ inasmuch as many birds are 

 found breeding there which usually make a more Northern place 

 their summer home. In the east the climate is mild and equable, 

 being tempered by the Gulf Stream, and many birds winter there, 

 and occasionally that section lias stragglers which it would not 

 were it not for its peculiar situation and environment. 



Scope of the Work. — Three hundred and three species are 

 listed, which includes all that are known to occur within the bor- 

 ders of the State at" the present time. Two species are recorded 

 upon evidence that they once occurred and they may be found 

 again. An Appendix of twenty-two species is added, of species 

 which ought to occur, and we may expect to take them if we are 

 careful. 



Source of Material. — During the past ten years I have de- 

 voted much time to the study of the ornithology of our State, and 

 the result of all my study and observations is embodied in and con- 

 stitutes the foundation of this work. To the following gentlemen 

 I am also greatly indebted, for without their assistance this list 

 could never have been as complete as I am now able to make it : 



Mr. H. H. Brimley, Curator State Museum, Raleigh, N. C, for 

 notes on the ducks and a few water-birds found on our sounds in 

 winter, and for notes on the specimens received at the Museum. 



Mr. C. S. Brimley, Raleigh, N. C, for a list of the birds of the 

 vicinity of Raleigh, and all the notes he has collected through sev- 

 eral years collecting and corresponding in various portions of the 

 State. 



Mr. John S. Cairns, a short time before his untimely death, sent 

 me a complete list of the birds of Buncombe County, which has 

 been of much service to me. In the death of this ardent lover of 

 nature we have lost one of our brightest stars, and, I fear, his place 

 will long remain vacant. His home was in Weaverville, among 

 the giants of nature. 



Mr. Joe H. Armfield, Greensboro, N. C, sent me a list of all the 

 birds which had come under his observation through several years 

 collecting, which contained some interesting and valuable notes on 

 the nidification habits of some of the rarer species. 



Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, Curator Guilford College Museum, Guil- 

 ford College, N. C, has rendered assistance by sending a list of all 

 the birds he has identified during his residence in North Carolina. 

 His former home was in Florida. 



Mr. R. P. Smithwick sent me a list of the birds of Bertie County, 

 with notes on each species, which* has proven of service. 



Mr. C. J. Maynard, Newtonville, Mass., furnished some valuable 

 notes on a few species of our coast birds, observed by himself in 

 1876. 



