414 Mr. K. Brown's Synopsis of the 



McVean, who was engaged on the same railway-works as myself, 

 declared that there was no doubt about the bird whatever*. 



XXXIII. — Synopsis of the Birds of Vancouver Island. 

 By Robert Brown, F.R.G.S. 

 I PROPOSE in the following paper to submit, in the form of a 

 synoptical list, the present state of our knowledge of the Orni- 

 thology of Vancouver Island on the north-west coast of Ame- 

 rica, lying between latitude 48° 16' and 50° 58' N., and lon- 

 gitude 128° 25' and 123° 15' W. In general character the 

 island is mountainous and densely covered with pine-forests, 

 while many smaller islands lie off the coast, which is indented by 

 numerous bays and inlets, the interior being intersected every- 

 where with rivers and lakes. 



I have devoted myself to ornithology at various intervals 

 during portions of nearly four years spent in the islands or the 

 neighbouring territories (as Commander and Government Agent 

 of the Vancouver-Island Exploring Expedition, and Botanist of 

 the British-Columbia Expedition), paying in the course of that 

 period every year a visit of longer or shorter duration to the 

 colony. The summer of 1864 I spent wholly in the island, 

 engaged in exploring the then unknown interior. 



While drawing for the most part on original material, I have 

 not neglected what little has been written upon the birds of 

 the country t- Mr. P. L. Sclater has given (P. Z. S. 1859, 

 pp. 235-237) a list of thirty-five species, collected by Captain 

 Prevost. This list contains five species of which I never heard 

 as Vancouver- Island birds : four of them I know as denizens of 

 the mainland; but the fifth {Oreortyx pictus) I cannot, without 



* [The collections of bird-skins sent by Dr. CuUen of Kustindjie to 

 Mr. Stevens have usually contained a considerable number of specimens 

 of Circus sivainsoni, and fewer of C. cineraceus. The former, therefore, 

 one would think, is most likely the species to which the above remarks 

 refer. — Ed.] 



t ' Exploration of Vancouver Island/ 1864. 8vo (Colonial Blue Book) ; 

 Proc.lloy. Geogr. Soc. 1865 ; Petermann's 'Geographische Mittheilungen,' 

 ifcc. &c. 



