Harris Birds of the Kansas City Region. 217 



covered, near the mouth of Platte River, a finch new to him 

 which he named Fringilla comata. He minutely described this 

 bird (the Mourning Finch of Nuttall) in the second volume of 

 his journal published in 1841. 



Audubon, who reached this point on May 2, 1843, on his 

 journey up the Missouri River to Fort Union, speaks in his 

 journal of the abundance of Wild Turkeys and Paroquets, and 

 gives a list of 49 species of birds observed or collected. This 

 list contains such locally extinct or rare birds as Ruffed Grouse, 

 Duck Hawk, Swan, Bald Eagle (two nests). In the bottom 

 land on the Missouri side, near Leavenworth, his party took 

 specimens of the sparrow which he named after his friend 

 Edward Harris, not knowing of the discovery of this bird in 

 1834 by Nuttall. At this point was discovered a vireo, new to 

 science, which Audubon named after another member of the 

 party J. G. Bell. 



On the return, in 1843, four Paroquets and two Ruffed 

 Grouse were killed in the vicinity of St. Joseph, and near Leav- 

 enworth great flocks of migrating Geese and Pelicans were 

 seen on October 10th. Three days later a great number of 

 Sandhill Cranes were seen. 



Edward Harris, who accompanied Audubon, and for whom 

 the supposedly new finch was named, published a list of 118 

 species seen between Fort Leavenworth and Fort Union (5th 

 Annual Report Smithsonian Institution, for 1850). 



Of the birds noted by Dr. P. R. Hoy in this vicinity in 1854, 

 at least one species, the Purple Sandpiper, has not since been 

 observed (19th Annual Report Smithsonian Institution, 1864). 



Dr. J. A. Allen collected a series of specimens in May, 1871, 

 in the bottoms of Platte County, and took several species of 

 water-birds about a lagoon, probably Horseshoe Lake. (Bull. 

 Museum Comparative ZooL, 1872). 



W. E. D. Scott, who was employed at the Normal School of 

 Warrensburg, Johnson County, during the spring of 1874, 

 published a list of 147 species observed and collected in that 

 vicinity (Nuttall Bulletin, Vol. 4, 1879). 



A few scattered field notes and short articles on rare and 

 unexpected species, by local observers, have from time to time 

 appeared in the bird journals. No previous attempt has been 



