6 HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS 



uniformly throughout each State), character and location 

 of nest, number of eggs, with approximate date when 

 the first set may be found (most species have two, and a 

 few have three, broods a year, at intervals of about five 

 weeks), and, finally^ any marked peculiarity of habit. A 

 peculiarity either in physical appearance or in habit 

 that is quite significant of the species, and largely to be 

 relied upon for identification, is always in italics. 



The territory covered by this book is the best ornitho- 

 logically explored region in America, viz., the six New 

 England States, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jer- 

 sey — practically all the Eastern and Middle States. The 

 avifauna of this area is largely the same throughout, yet 

 showing noticeable differences in different sections, since 

 within the territory are represented three zoological 

 areas — the Canadian (including the northern part of the 

 States of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, the 

 Adirondack region of New York, and the higher moun- 

 tains of Pennsylvania), the Alleghanian (including the 

 rest of New England, and of New York, and parts of 

 Pennsylvania and New Jersey), and the Carolinian 

 (overlapping the Alleghanian in southeastern New York 

 and the valley of the lower Connecticut River, and in- 

 cluding large portions of Pennsylvania and New Jersey). 

 The avifaunas of these diverse areas show certain dis- 

 tinctive features, each characterized by peculiar species, 

 and by a greater or less abundance of such as are com- 

 mon to the others. Thus the '' migrants " belonging to 

 the Canadian fauna summer only in northern New 



