THE OCCURRENCE OF EUROPEAN BIRDS IN NOVA SCOTIA. 

 BY HARRY PIERS, Curator of the Provincial Museum 

 of Nova Scotia, Halifax, N. S. 



[Read, in part, 9th December, 1912; revised to 25th June, 1914.] 



At intervals there have been taken on the eastern shores 

 of the Western Hemisphere, birds which belong more strictly 

 to the Old World, and the purpose of the paper is to record 

 a few recent occurrences of the kind in Nova Scotia, such 

 as those of the European Widgeon, the European Teal, and 

 the Lapwing, as well as to bring together some particulars of 

 all such previous records as have come to my knowledge. 

 To this is added some information about the Dunlin and 

 Wheatear, which have been, apparently erroneously, stated 

 to have been taken in this Province. 



Of the nine species mentioned, all belong to the so-called 

 " Water Birds." Two of these are members of the order 

 Anseres (Ducks, etc.), one of the Paludicolx (Rails, etc.), 

 and the remaining six of the Limicolx (Snipes, Sandpipers, 

 etc.). Nearly all of them are known to occur in Greenland 

 or Iceland, and their breeding range is within or approaches 

 the Arctic Circle. We have no instance, that I know of, of 

 a bird with an exclusively more southern breeding area, 

 occurring in Nova Scotia. 



The few dates available for the occurrences given, are 

 as follows, arranged in order of months: 9 Jan., 14 Feb., 

 17 Mar., 23 and 27 May, 1 and 28 Sept., Oct., and 12 Dec. Al- 

 though these data are far too scanty to form any definite con- 

 clusions, one is Jed to think that the occurrences may be 

 mostly referable, as would be expected, to the vernal and 

 autumnal migrations. The winter and very early spring 

 dates, however, are difficult to account for, unless the birds 



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