BIRDS OF THE CITY PARK, WATERTOWN, N. Y. 



In no locality within the scope of this booklet, 

 familiar to the writer, are birds more abundant in 

 species and in individuals than they are in the City 

 Park of Watertown, Jefferson County. There are 

 suitable habitats here for most of the smaller land 

 birds. Each of the seven existing orders of North 

 American land birds is represented. Even the wa- 

 ter birds are represented by four species of the 

 order of shore birds. If one chooses to add also 

 the gulls, duck? and herons which have been seen 

 here in flight at least, then twelve of the thirteen 

 orders of inland birds may be included in the 

 avifanna of this limited area. That which in- 

 cludes rails and coots is thus the only order en- 

 tirely absent. The freedom of this territory from 

 cats, and the strict prohibition of all shooting, are 

 doubtless the chief reasons for its abundant bird- 

 life. For no locality, however fair and inviting 

 with meadow, field and wood, can have a rich 

 avifauna when its guardians are boys with sling- 

 shots and the chief warden of its bird-life is the 

 murderous house-cat. 



Added to the foregoing considerations, the con- 

 venience for observation of this field, and its direct 

 accessibility to the thirty thousand residents of 

 Watertown seem sufficient reasons for the follow- 

 ing review of this locality: 



Land birds are sometimes divided into two 

 groups, namely: arboreal, those which inhabit the 

 leafy coverts of trees and shrubs; terrestrial, those 

 whose haunts are on the ground. This division is 

 marked by no very sharply drawn line. However, 

 according to this classification nearly all the birds 



*The lack of a swampy tract of any consider- 

 able extent accounts for the absence not only of 

 birds of this order, but explains the absence of 

 the swamp sparrow and marsh wrens among land 

 birds. 



