iv PREFACE. 



thology? Surely the economic importance of the subject would justify 

 many times the expenditure." 



WILLIAM BREWSTER, Esq., who is in charge of the Department of 

 Birds and Mammals at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, 

 and the Boston Society of Natural History, asks : 



"What has Canada done for ornithology? In general terms, simply 

 nothing, excepting the little that has resulted from purely private inves- 

 tigations, or from work instigated, and in some cases paid for, on this side 

 of the line. The results of this work are trifling compared to the as yet 

 untried opportunities. * * * Speaking in general terms, Canada 

 and especially its Northwestern Provinces is still a virgin field, about 

 which we are in almost total ignorance. The opportunity it offers is 

 surely tempting." 



I have heard Dr. SCLATER, Secretary of the Zoological Society of 

 London, express similar views regarding the importance of the ornitho- 

 logical work still to be done within the boundaries of the Dominion ; 

 and I gather from letters received from Sir WILLIAM DAWSON that he is 

 not among those who consider Canadian ornithology a finished work. 



But besides the defects arising from insufficiency of material, the 

 present notes on distribution will probably be found to contain mistakes 

 due to the limited experience of some of the younger observers whose 

 records are quoted, though with the care that has been taken to have 

 these verified, they should be few. 



I trust, however, that with all its faults and errors, the work may prove 

 of some advantage to all who take an interest in our birds, and of some 

 service to my fellow students. If it assists the latter in their present 

 studies, and incites them to increased activity, the labor will not have 

 been in vain ; and I leave the matter here, with the hope that at some 

 day in the near future sufficient material may have been gathered from 

 which a more extended and satisfactory account of Canadian birds can 

 be produced. 



The system of nomenclature and classification adopted is that pre- 

 pared by the Committee of the American Ornithologists' Union, and 

 published in the Code of Nomenclature and Check-List of North 

 American Birds, issued by the A. O. U. I have included the European 



