152 BiCKXEi.L on Hylocichla alicliX bicknelli. 



102. Mergus merganser americanus (^Cass.) Ridgxv. Sheldrake. — 

 Not uncommon at Grand Falls. 



103. Mergus serrator Linn. Red-breasted Merg.\nser. — "Very 

 common, breeding." at Houlton. 



104. Larus argentatus smithsoniaiius, Cones. Herring Gull. — 

 At Houlton it is common on the neighboring lakes, where it breeds. 



105. Podilymbus podiceps {Littn.) La-Mr. Pied-billed Grebe. — 

 Rare, breeds, Houlton. 



A SKETCH OF THE HOME OF HTLOCICHLA 

 ALICI^^ BICKNELLI, RIDGVVAY, WITH SOME 

 CRITICAL REMARKS ON THE ALLIES OF THIS 

 NEW RACE. 



^\ EUGENE P. BICKXEI.I.. 



That there remained unrecognized at this hite day a bird reg- 

 ularly inhabiting one of the most popidous portions of our coun- 

 try ; or, indeed, that a species of eminently boreal habitat during 

 its breeding season, and not known to occur at all at such time 

 within the limits of the United States, should have a representa- 

 tive race regularly breeding in our midst, are facts for which we 

 were little prepared. Air. Ridgway's I'ecent paper* announcing 

 these facts being necessarily of a technical nature, and confined to 

 a formal description of the new Thrush, it has been thought well 

 on the present occasion to allude more particularly to the char- 

 acter of the locality inhabited by the bird, and to some of its asso- 

 ciates thei'e, in connection with other sequential considerations. 

 As the general physical character of the Catskill Alountains and 

 the faunal features of the region will be treated by the writer else- 

 where, it will be unnecessar\ to extend the range of the present 

 relation from the summit of Slide Mountain in Ulster Co..t 

 where the new race was discovered. 



On June 15, 1881, nearing the summit of this mountain, the 

 forests of a more northern latitude were forcibly suggested. A 

 shower had fallen during the ascent, and the sun was still obscured, 



♦ " Descriptions of two new Thrushes from the United States." Proceedings U. S. 

 National Museum, Vol. 374, pp. 374-9. 



t The highest peak of the Catskills, — 4,205 feet ahitude. 



