THE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. . 19 



and Red-breasted Mergansers or Sheldrakes, all of which are 

 totally unfit for food. As this is probably done along the shores 

 of the entire group of lakes in the northern United States, it is 

 evident that most of our rare winter visitants are shot before 

 they can reach us, or are possibly forced to seek other localities 

 which seem safer to them. I know of one gentleman, an enthu- 

 siastic sportsman, who shot sixty-four Old Squaw Ducks from 

 the government pier in Chicago, thinking they were Pintails or 

 some other edible ducks. He cheerfully presented some of them 

 to friends, who of course had to throw them away. As these 

 ducks are useful scavengers, and of as great value to us as the 

 Turkey Vulture and the sea gulls, they should not be shot in 

 this manner. It is because of this needless slaughter of birds 

 that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, the Carolina Paroquet, the 

 Eskimo Curlew, the Passenger Pigeon, and the Wild Turkey 

 have disappeared forever from the localities which they formerly 

 frequented. 



EXTRALIMITAL BIRDS. 



In a locality situated as our area is on the shore of a large 

 body of water, it is very important that we should always have 

 in mind the possibility of birds appearing within our limits which 

 are truly extralimital. Mr. E. W. Nelson has well expressed 

 the peculiar situation of this area, and his words so well show 

 its nature that I will quote them : "The region about the south- 

 ern end of Lake Michigan, in Illinois, presents an unusually fer- 

 tile field for the ornithologist. Situated, as it is, midway between 

 the wooded region of the East and the treeless plains of the West, 

 with the warm river bottoms of the South, rich in southern species, 

 extending within a comparatively short distance, and the Great 

 Lakes upon the north, Northeastern Illinois forms a kind of 

 'four corners' where the avian-faunae of four regions intergrade. 

 To the proximity of Lake Michigan we are indebted for a number 

 of more or less strictly maritime species." From the action of 

 fierce storms raging inland from the sea coast, and the occurrence 

 of many maritime species, which have been seen and taken just 

 out of the boundaries of our area, such as Brunnich's Murre 

 (Uria lomvia), Burgomaster Gull (Larus glaucus), Man-o'-War 

 Bird (Fregato aquila), we are liable i ntime to find a number of 

 our sea coast birds, along the chain of Great Lakes. As a 

 special illustration of this fact, I will speak of the occurrence of 



