THE 



BIRDS OF INDIANA 



A DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF THE BIRDS THAT HAVE 



BEEN OBSERVED WITHIN THE STATE, WITH AN 



ACCOUNT OF THEIR HABITS. 



Bv ArvlOS W. BUTLER. 



INTEODUCTION. 



At the reqiiest of Prof. W. S. Blatchley, the cjiief of the Department 

 of Geology and Natural Eesources, I have undertaken the preparation 

 of a report upon the birds of Indiana. This is made necessary by the 

 fact that Dr. A. W. Brayton's "Cataloo;ue of the Birds of Indiana," 

 published in 1879, has long been out of print and the supply of my 

 own catalogue of 1890 is practically exhausted. Both of these papers 

 were published by the Indiana Horticultural Society. 



With the increasing interest in the relations of birds to the farm, 

 orchard, garden and lawn; with the attention that has of late been 

 directed to birds as subjects for nature study in all our schools and 

 with the awakening desire to prcA'ent the slaughter of native beneficial 

 birds, for purposes of decoration and adornment, has come a demand 

 for information relating to the birds about us that is unsupplied. 



It is desired that I give at this time an account of the occurrence, 

 distribution, breeding range, nesting habits and foods of the birds of 

 the State, to which shall be added descriptions of all the species that 

 occur within our limits and an artificial key to aid in their determina- 

 tion. With the material available, the result of over twenty-one years* 

 observations on the migrations of birds within the State of Indiana, 

 it was to have been hoped that the way might have opened for 

 some extended consideration of the data at hand. I have been enabled 



