INTRODLTCTION 



THE ORNrTHOL()(iV of MrmlaiKi, ;,s rompnred witli tiiat of iinisl other 

 western states, is still in a pi'iiiiilive eondition. Wliiie the eai-iiesl exphir- 

 ations and reports were niadr at aliout the same time as tliose of other 

 western states, oniitholoj^ieal work sinee that time lias not kept [laee witli 

 what lias lieen done elsewhere. Settlement of the state, luitil recently, has licen 

 slow, and there have lieen eouip;iratively feM' resident ornithologists. Little 

 eollecting has heen doni'. .SV r/i \ of specimens are almost unknown. Most of 

 the specimens that Inivc been eolhn'ted are scattered through private collec- 

 tions. The results of murh of this field work have ne\i'r been published, and 

 when they have, identifications have often bein rather loosely made. For these 

 reasons the present list cannot eoTn]iare in either completeness or detailed ac- 

 ciirai'y with other recently published state lists. There is much of importance 

 yet to be learned of the local distribution of even the commoner species. Snb- 

 sjiecific status is in many cases unsettled. The future will probably see many 

 changes and additions on the basis of the present list, and it is hoped that its 

 publication will stimulate woi'k that will sooner lu'ing these changes to accom- 

 plishment. 



The portion of this paper which is based on my own field studies is the re- 

 sult of five years of almost continuous work in various jiarts of the state, from 

 1908 to l!)l:i, as well as two additional summers, at Flathead Lake and in the 

 Glacier Park, in 1!)14 and lOlfi. I have supplemented the results of this field 

 work with a careful study of all the i)nblished records that T have been able to 

 find. The bibliograjihy published with this list is the result of eight years of 

 comjiilation. T have examined nearly all of the publications listed, and have 

 used all of thi> i-ecords in them which have proven of value in working out dis- 

 trd)ution, or times of nesting and migration. References to these various 

 sources of information are given in the text. Where records are without I'cfer- 

 ence, they are from my own, hitherto unpublished, mites. 



In addition to these sources of information I have been fortunate in secur- 

 ing from a number of other ornithologists manuscript lists of birds obsei'ved 

 by them in various parts of the state. Without these lists, my work would liave 

 been so far from complete that it would, perhaps, not have lieer. worth printing. 

 1 have referred to these lists in the text with the surnames of tiie contributors. 

 The full names of the hitter, with ackiioMdedgements, are givi.ii in the para- 

 graphs immediately following. 



