of the central portion, though less well known, can 

 scarcely differ much from that of the eastern. The 

 region west of the Connecticut valley still offers an inter- 

 esting field for investigation. Owing to the elevated, 

 mountainous character of a considerable part of this area 

 many species must regularly breed there that do not com- 

 monly pass the summer in the more easterly portions of 

 tke state. This, in fact, is known to be the case with a 

 few, and is inferred for others. What is needed now to 

 complete our knowledge of the ornithology of Massachu- 

 setts are exhaustive lists of the birds of at least two 

 localities in Berkshire County, one near its northern 

 boundary and the other near its southern. It is to be 

 hoped that not many years will pass before these desid- 

 erata will be supplied. 



Within the last ten years three new species have been 

 described from specimens first taken in Massachusetts. 

 While it is hardly probable that others yet remain to be 

 discovered, quite a number of stragglers from the far 

 West and South, and possibly from the Old World, will 

 doubtless yet be added to the already long list of acci- 

 dental visitors. 1 



At the risk of extending these preliminary remarks 

 somewhat unduly I append a brief historical summary of 

 the literature of the subject under consideration. The 



1 In this connection it may be interesting to note, as an indication of how rap- 

 idly our knowledge of the distribution of our birds is increasing, that of twenty- 

 nine species withdrawn scarcely two years since from the list of New England 

 birds, by one of our most eminent authorities, because he could find no satisfac- 

 tory evidence that they had ever been taken in New England, over one-third hare 

 since been reinstated in consequence of their actual capture within these pi-e- 

 scribed limits having been made known within this short period. Out of fourteen 

 "challenged " laud birds (Passeres and Waders) nine have already been placed on 

 the record as actually taken, in some instances at several different localities, and 

 in numbers ranging from three to five and even eight individuals. I mention this 

 not in the spirit of criticism, but simply as an interesting fact, for I agree with the 

 author in question that their previous record as birds actually taken in New 

 England was, in nearly every instance, open to serious doubt. 



