1891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 35 



a branch of the United States department of agriculture, 

 receives annually a small appropriation for the purpose of 

 investigating the economic relations of birds and mammals. 

 Several reports of great value to both farmers and natural- 

 ists have been issued by Dr. Merriam and his corps of able 

 assistants ; other reports, now in course of preparation, will 

 be equally as interesting and valuable as the previous docu- 

 ments prepared and distributed through Dr. Merriam's 

 untiring efforts. 



The bird fauna of Massachusetts, according to the admira- 

 ble list of Prof. J. A. Allen,* includes about three hundred 

 and forty well-authenticated species and sub-species. This 

 large number embraces birds which are found in the Com- 

 monwealth as residents and transitory visitants. Species 

 which live in a particular region during all months of the 

 year are termed by naturalists residents. The crow, red- 

 tailed hawk, and the English or European house sparrow are 

 common and resident. The terai winter resident is applied, 

 usually, to those species which migrate northward, and rear 

 their young, as many of them do, in the Arctic regions, but 

 which reside here during the winter season. Many differ- 

 ent kinds of ducks, some geese, certain loons, and various 

 species of land birds, visit the boreal regions, where, during 

 the fleeting Arctic summer they bring forth their young in 

 dreary solitudes rarely visited by man. The snowy owl, 

 snowbird, shore lark, and tree sparrow are winter residents. 



Summer residents are native birds, or those which spend 

 the winter in the tropical, sub-tropical and warmer temper- 

 ate regions, and in the spring migrate northward to their 

 breeding grounds. The cat-bird, wren, robin, oriole, the 

 swallows and blackbirds are familiar examples of summer 

 residents. 



Various warblers and many other land birds, as well as 

 numerous representatives of the water birds, occur in this 

 region only during the spring and fall months. They are 

 designated spring and fall migrants. A straggler or acci- 

 dental visitant is any bird which wanders from its usual 

 geographical range. 



* "A Revised List of the Birds of Massachusetts," by J. A. Allen, from Bull. 

 Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. I., No. 7, July, 1886. 



