370 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Arc. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Mr. Brown : — Dear Sir, — Will you be kind 

 enougli to inform me of the most approved authors 

 upon the subject of American Ornithology, and 

 where their works can be purchased. Many of 

 your female readers have been interested in the 

 articles published in the Farmer, on the "Birds 

 of New England," written by Mr. S. P. Fowler, 

 of Danvers, and perhaps that gentleman can give 

 the desired information. Yours truly, 



April 4,1855. Laura. 



RE-MARKS BY S. P. FOWLER. 



In answer to the request of your fair correspon- 

 dent I would say, there is, perhaps, no jsart of the 

 natural history of our country better written or 

 illustrated, than its ornithology. Many valuable 

 and beautiful books have appeared upon this sub- 

 ject, and are to be found in some of our public li- 

 braries, and in the mansions of the wealthy ; 

 but it would be difficult to direct a person to a 

 book-store where could be obtained a work de- 

 scriptive of all our birds, at such a price as would 

 come within the means of the general reader. A 

 cheap edition of Alexander Wilson's "American 

 Ornithology," with Charles Lucien Bonaparte's 

 continuation, has never been published, to my 

 knowledge, in this country. An edition appeared 

 from a New York press in 1852, styled "Wil- 

 son's American Ornithology, with additions, in- 

 cluding the birds described by Audubon, Bona- 

 parte, Nuttall and Richardson." The purchaser 

 of this book, upon seeing such an array of great 

 names amongst ornithologists, running down its 

 back, would be led to suppose that he had at last 

 found a cheap edition of ornithology, describing 

 the habits and other useful and interesting facts 

 relating to all our birds ; but in this supposition 

 he would be mistaken. Still, this edition possess- 

 es value to many students in ornithology, in its 

 full and excellent synopsis and copious notes by 

 Sir William Jardine and its editor. It can be 

 found in the book-stores of Boston and New 

 York. No cheap edition of Audubon's splendid 

 work has as yet appeared in this country. 



Mr. Thomas Nuttall published in 1832 his 

 "Manual of the Ornithology of the United States 

 and of Canada," at Cambridge, in two volumes, 

 containing many wood engravings. In his pre- 

 face, Mr. Nuttall says, "it was my principal ob- 

 ject to furnish a compendious and scientific trea- 

 tise on the birds of the United States, at a price 

 so reasonable as to permit it to find a place in the 

 hands of general readers." It is known to many 

 how well and truly he accomplished his pur- 

 pose. The first volume contains the land birds, 

 with an introduction of thirty pages, presenting 

 the general subject of ornithology with great 

 beauty and interest. The second volume gives us 

 the water birds, with an appendix drawn from 

 discoveries made by Richardson and Swainson. 

 We are sorry to add in connection with this 

 work, that this valuable "Manual of our Ornith- 

 ogy" has become scarce ; we can point to no 

 book-store where it can be obtained. A few 

 copies can only occasionally be found at Burn- 

 ham's, in Cornhill. 



In order to a full and better acquaintance with 

 the natural productions of our commonwealth, a 



survey was ordered to be made by our Legisla- 

 ture in 1837. One portion of the work, allotted 

 to a gentleman on the commission, was our orni- 

 thology. It was understood he was to enumer- 

 ate the birds of Massachusetts, and to give such 

 information respecting their habits, as would be 

 particularly interesting to the cultivators of the 

 soil to know. The report on our birds appeared 

 in 1S39, which, together with the other reports 

 on our natural productions, was, by our Legisla- 

 ture, distributed by giving each member, and va- 

 rious literary institutions and societies, one copy 

 each, limiting the distribution in its descent to 

 the people, to incorporated societies and acade- 

 mies, and giving but one copy to every town in 

 the commonwealth, however large it might be. 

 The copies remaining not distributed were laid 

 aside for future Legislative action. The new 

 members of the next Legislature finding them on 

 hand, and perhaps in their way, voted the balance 

 of the edition into their own pockets, and that is 

 the last we hear of it. Such has been the action of 

 our Legislature in regard to many of its valuable 

 printed reports, and we are sorry to admit, in 

 years past, we have sometimes participated in it. 

 But there is one consolation to our cultivators of 

 the soil, in their never having seen, and scarcely 

 knowing of the books prepared for them by the 

 kind forethought of our old and respected com- 

 monwealth ; it is, if they had the report of the 

 ornithology of Massachusetts in their hands, they 

 could not tell from any description in the work, 

 or reference to any author, a Crow Blackbird 

 from a Cow Bunting. 



A valuable local history of the birds of Long 

 Island was published in 1844, by J. P. Giraud, 

 Jr. It is particularly full and satisfactory in its 

 description of our water birds. The object of the 

 work is best described by its author in his pre- 

 face, where he says, "He has been induced to of- 

 fer the present volume with a view of placing 

 within the reach of the 'gunners' the means of 

 becoming more thoroughly acquainted with the 

 birds frequenting Long Island." So we presume 

 the work would be more interesting to a rough- 

 faced shooter of water-fowl, than it would be for 

 "Laura." 



In regard to the foreign editions of "Wilson's 

 Ornithology," one was published in 1832, in three 

 volumes, with colored figures, in London, with 

 Sir William Jardine's notes. This edition con- 

 tains Bonaparte's continuation. It is advertised 

 for sale by Little & Brown, book-sellers in Bos- 

 ton, for $25. This is the cheapest edition of our 

 ornithology, with colored plates, we are acquaint- 

 ed with. An edition of "Wilson's Ornithology" 

 was published in 1831, in Edinburgh, by Consta- 

 ble & Co., in the Constable's Miscellany, and edit- 

 ed by Prof. Jameson, in four small volumes. They 

 contain what was written by Wilson and Bona- 

 parte, with their synonyms, also an appendix con- 

 taining additional details by Audubon, Richard- 

 son and Swainson. This is a neat and satisfacto- 

 ry pocket edition, containing some four or five 

 plates, very suitable for "Laura," or any other 

 lady. But where it can be obtained I know not ; 

 the one I possess was ordered from London many 

 years since. 



In view of all that we have now written, it 

 would seem that we have not at tliis time a cheap 

 and complete work, embracing a full history 



