68 BULLETIN OF THE NUTTALL 



It will appear from the above description that this bird combines in 

 nearly equal proportions the characters of Pedicccetes and Cujndonia. In 

 the general pattern of coloration of the plumage it most resembles C. cupido, 

 but the abdomen is spotted like the breast of Pediwcetes, and the wing- 

 coverts are marked precisely as in that species. It has the neck-tufts of 

 Cupidonia and the projecting tail-feathers of Pedicecetes, both of these 

 characters, however, slightly modified. A remarkable feature appears in 

 the extension of the upper tail-coverts nearly to the tips of the rectrices. 



Nelson's "Birds of Northeastern Illinois."* — ^ Under the above 

 title Mr. E. W. Nelson gives us the results of three years' investigation in 

 Cook and Lake Counties in the northeastern corner of Illinois, "a belt 

 about twenty-five miles wide, bordering Lake Michigan in Illinois," in- 

 cluding the field considered. As he remarks, the locality seems to form 

 "a kind of four-corners where the avian faunte of four regions intergrade" ; 

 hence we find a somewhat novel juxtaposition of species. On or near the 

 lake occur many birds formerly considered as more or less exclusively 

 maritime. Notably among those of this class found in summer are Am- 

 modromus caudacutus and JEgialitis melodus ; during the migrations, 

 Strepsilas interpres, Trimja maritima, T. canuta, Calidris arenaria, and 

 Micropalama himantopus ; in winter, Histrionicus torquaius, Harelda gla- 

 cialis, Somateria mollissima, S. spectabilis, Larus glquciis, and L. kiicopterus. 

 As might be expected, the species properly belonging to the Carolinian 

 fauna which reach this point are, with a few exceptions, of either uncom- 

 mon or rare occurrence, and they here seem to touch the extreme north- 

 ern limit of their range in that longitude. But most interesting are the 

 records of northern birds breeding so far south, especially Limicoline and 

 Natatorial species. Thus Mr. Nelson has found nesting in greater or less 

 abundance, Triwja minutilla, Totamis melanoleucus, T. flavipes, T. solita- 

 rius, Mareca americana, Fulix affinis, F, collaris, Erismatura ruhida, Mer- 

 yus servator, and some others. 



• It is not, however, from the simple enumeration of species, that this list 

 derives its chief value and interest, but from the unusually complete and 

 satisfactory character of the biographical annotations, which embrace good 

 descriptions of the habits of many birds previously but little known. 



Thus Mr. Nelson describes the songs of Turdus alicice and Oporornis 



* Birds of Northeastern Illinois. By E. W. Nelson. Bulletin of the Essex 

 Institute, Vol. VIII, 1876, Xos. 9-12, pp. 90-155, April, 1877. 



