INTRODUCTION. 



On the 2nd of April, 1885 I had the honor of reading before the 

 Hamilton Association, a paper on " Birds and Bird Matters." which 

 will bejound in the following pages. At the same time I promised 

 to prepare for the association, a list of all the different species of 

 birds which have been observed in Ontario, with some account of their 

 distribution, habits, nests, eggs, etc. At the time this promise was 

 made, a Committee of the American Ornithologists Union, composed 

 of Messrs. Coues, Allen, Ridgeway, Brewster and Henshaw, was 

 busily engaged revising the classification and nomenclature of North 

 American birds ; this work, which involved a vast amount of labor 

 and research, and took nearly three years in completion, has now 

 been finished, and the result is before the public in a volume, 

 entitled the " Code of Nomenclature and Check List of North 

 American Birds," familiarily known as the A, O. U. Check List. 



The work has been well received, and will no doubt be the text 

 book used by all Students of American Ornithology for many years 

 to come. 



My promised list of the Birds of Ontario was delayed for a time, 

 in order to have it in accordance with the new arrangement, which 

 has now been done. It may surprise some to find that the order in 

 which the different species are presented is the reverse of what it 

 used to be, that the Thrushes and Blue Birds which used to be first on 

 the list, are now the last to be named, while the Grebes and Loons 

 which used to be last, are now placed first. This change in the 

 arrangement comes a little awkward, but after all it seems the most 

 natural way to treat the subject chronologically, and as we get used 

 to the plan, it will no doubt be found most convenient. 



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