ORNITHOLOGIST 
—AND— 


_OOLOGIST. 

$1.50 per FRANK B. WEBSTER, PuBLIsHER. Single Copy 
Annum. Established, March, 1875. 15 Cents. 
VOL. XI. BOSTON, MASS., JUNE, 1886. No. 6. 



A List of Birds Observed at Pensa- 
cola, Florida. 
BY BARTON W. EVERMANN. 


It was my good fortune to spend the time from 
March 18th to April 13th, of the present year, in 
and about Pensacola, Florida. While the chief 
object was to make collections of the fishes of 
that region, I nevertheless kept notes of the vari- 
ous species of birds which came under my notice. 
In the present list I have included only those 
species which were definitely identified by my- 
self or by Mr. Charles H. Bollman, who assisted 
me in making collections at that place. A num- 
ber of other species reported as resident, or usual- 
ly common, I do not include in the list. Pensa- 
cola is located in West Florida, on a most beau- 
tiful bay. The country round about is low and 
level, often covered with titi or cypress swamps; 
the soil is sandy, the vegetation consists usually 
of an undergrowth of scrub oak, palmetto palm, 
etc., and a larger growth of pine, live oak, bay, 
cypress, etc.. Most of the land birds, particularly 
the warblers, recorded in this paper were ob- 
served on a small peninsula, called Tchina Point, 
about two miles east of Pensacola and between 
the Bay and Bayou Texas. Santa Rosa Island 
and the coast west of Pensacola, near the U. 8. 
Navy Yard, were also good places for making 
observations, The time from March 30th to 
April 10th, was spent on the schooner Niantic, 
on a fishing cruise to the “Snapper Banks,” out 
in the Gulf 225 miles southeast of Pensacola. Of 
course, few birds were seen on this trip, except 
two days (April 6th and 7th,) which we spent in 
the harbor of Saint Joseph, 100 miles east of Pen- 
sacola. We were driven into the place by a 
storm, and, while there I was permitted to go on 
shore at Saint Joseph Point. During these two 
days bird life was very abundant on this small 
peninsula, the pine and oak woods literally 
swarming with great troops of various species of 
migrants, the most conspicuous among them be- 
ing Orchard Orioles, Summer’ Redbirds, Card- 

inals, Hooded Warblers, Yellow-rumps, King- 
birds, ete. It was with great satisfaction that I 
was able to see here in the groves of this “ Land 
of Flowers,” those vast hosts of beautiful bright- 
colored birds which go trooping through our 
northern woods a month later and which I had 
so often seen in the forests and along the streams 
of Indiana. Several species which in the north 
have but little tendency to flock were noticed 
here to be travelling in considerable bands. The 
most noticeable among these were Summer Red- 
bird, Kingbird and Hooded Warbler. A prettier 
sight than these presented as they hurried from 
tree to tree in this semi-tropical forest, has but 
rarely been witnessed by me. 
While I was on and about the water a great 
deal, yet my observations of water birds were not 
very satisfactory. Only occasional opportunities 
for collecting them occurred, and I did not al- 
ways have a gun at hand when such chances 
offered. I thus am unable to include in the list 
some species of Gulls and Terns which I saw at 
some distance but was not able to identify with 
certainty. 
The arrangement and nomenclature of this list 
are those of the ‘“‘A. O. U. Code and Check List 
of N. A. Birds,” but recently issued. The num- 
ber in parenthesis after each name is that of the 
ABO TU. ast: 
1. Urinator imber, Gunn. (7). Loon. Quite 
common in the bay until the first of April. As 
many as nine were seen at one time near the 
mouth of Laguna Grande, a few miles from Pen- 
sacola. One was seen out in the Gulf, 100 miles 
from shore. 
2. Larus argentatus smithsonianus, Coues. (51a). 
American Herring Gull. Common in the bay 
at Pensacola; abundant at Saint Joseph’s, where 
it was seen April 6th and 7th. 
3. Larus delawarensis, Ord. (54). Ring-billed 
Gull. Perhaps the most common Gull both at 
Pensacola and Saint Joseph’s. 
4. Larus philadelphia, Ord. (60). Bonaparte’s 
Gull. Rather common in Pensacola harbor and 



Copyright, 1886, by Eaton Cxirrr and F. B. WEBSTER. 
