A merican Museum of Natural History. 223 



soon to give us more fully the results of his mature experience 

 with our water birds, respecting which so little is still satisfactorily 

 recorded. 



As bearing upon the general subject of Massachusetts ornith- 

 ology, mention should be made in this connection of Stearns and 

 Coues's handy manual of New England ornithology,* which gives 

 not only the bibliography of the subject (Vol. I, pp. 42-50) to 

 1879, but detailed references to the records of the rarer species 

 occurring in Massachusetts and the adjoining States. In the 

 compilation of these scattered records the authors give credit 

 for valuable assistance to Mr. H. A. Purdie, of Boston, whose 

 familiarity with the subject, and whose trustworthiness in such 

 matters are well known. 



As already stated, twenty-two species of birds have been added 

 to the fauna of the State since the publication of my 1878 

 " List," including one (Puffinus borealis . Cory) new to science. 

 The number of species then recorded was 317 (including one 

 given in an " Addendum " and not numbered consecutively in the 

 list), //&.$ four extirpated, making a total of 321. The present 

 list numbers 339, plus four extirpated, or 443 in all. Of the 24 

 species then given as of probable occurrence, six have been since 

 taken within the limits of the State; six others have been recorded 

 as taken in the Connecticut Valley, within six to ten miles of the 

 southern boundary of Massachusetts. 



The present list, as was the former, is divided into five catego- 

 ries, namely: (i) species fully authenticated as birds of the State; 

 (2) species of probable occurrence; (3) extirpated species; (4) 

 doubtful species; (5) introduced species. The classification and 

 nomenclature adopted is that of the new A. O. U. Check List of 

 North American Birds. f 



An asterisk (*) prefixed to the current number of a species in- 

 dicates that it is either known to breed in the State, or that it 

 occurs in summer under circumstances that render its breeding 

 almost unquestionable. A species having its current number in- 



* New England Bird Life: being a Manual of New England Ornithology. Revised and 

 edited from the manuscript ofWinfnd A. Stearns. By Elliott Coues. Boston: Lee & Shep- 

 hard. 8vo. Vol. I, 1881, pp. 324. Vol. II, 1883, pp. 409. 



t The Code of Nomenclature and Check List of North American Birds, adopted by the 

 American Ornithologists' Union ; being the Report of the Committee of the Union on Classifi- 

 cation and Nomenclature. New York, 1886. 8vo. pp. viii. +392. 



1886.] 



