PART I. 



REVIEW OF FORMER PUBLICATIONS ON RHODE 

 ISLAND BIRDS, AND OF STATE COLLECTIONS. 



RHODE ISLAND, though adjoining Massachusetts, a State whose 

 avi-fauna has had long and careful study, is remarkable in that 

 it has had but few ornithologists, and but little ever published in 

 regard to its birds. 



The first publication that appeared on the birds for any portion 

 of the State was in 1884 when Dr. William C. Rives, M. A., pub- 

 lished a short paper, entitled " The Birds of Newport," in the 

 Proceedings of the Newport Natural History Society, 1883-4, 

 page 28. This paper was one of Dr. Rives' first pieces of ornitho- 

 logical work, and cannot be compared with his admirable work, 

 " A Catalogue of the Birds of the Virginias." The paper is of a 

 purely popular nature, mentioning some ninety-seven species. 

 It is annotated only in a casual way and contains little of 

 scientific value. In the same Proceedings of the Newport Society, 

 page 42, there is a bare " List of Birds Shot Near Newport," by 

 Col. John Hare Powel, unannotated. Col. Powel though an old, 

 well known sportsman in Rhode Island, does not pose as an orni- 

 thologist, and does not attempt to establish records upon his own 

 identification. In 1888, Mr. J. M. Southwick published a paper, 

 entitled " Our Birds of Rhode Island," in the Proceedings of the 

 Newport Natural History Society, 1887-8, page 3, of very much 

 the same character as Dr. Rives'. It contains, however, more of 

 value in regard to Rhode Island birds, perhaps the most of any 

 of the few existing papers. The paper speaks of some one 

 hundred and one species in detail, and Mr. Southwick states that 

 he could then report the "capture of at least two-hundred and 

 thirty species." In this same Proceedings there is a paper by 

 Mr. Charles H. Lawton called, " The Water Birds of Newport," 



