ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



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 Aniiuin. 



Published for the BRISTOL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Established, March, 187.5. 



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 10 Cents. 



VOL. XII. BOSTON, MASS., SEPTEMBER, 1887. 



No. 9. 



A List of the Birds of Bristol 

 County, Mass. 



BY FREDERIC W. ANDROS. 



Bristol County is situated in the south-east- 

 ern part of Massachusetts and has an area of 

 517 square miles. It is bounded on the south 

 by Buzzards Bay and is well drained by the 

 Taunton River and smaller streams which How 

 into Mt. Hope and Narragansett Bay, and it 

 has about twenty miles of seacoast ; certain 

 localities rugged in the extreme with rocky 

 headlands, while quiet coves and harbors are 

 nestled here and there with low sandy beaches 

 and quiet waters. The sui-face of the (;ount}^ 

 is generally level though there ai-e a few quite 

 prominent hills, especially in the western por- 

 tion of the county. Rocky Hill, the highest 

 eminence has an observatory where observa- 

 tions are taken thrice daily during the spring 

 and fall migrations. The eastern portion of 

 the countj^ is not so heavily wooded as the 

 western, the latter consisting mostly of liard 

 wood and deciduous trees and groves, and the 

 soil is sandy, while the former is mainly large 

 groves of pine and cedars and has a richer soil. 

 This county is very favorably situated regard- 

 ing the migrations of our birds, as it is well 

 watered and a valley extends well up into the 

 interior; it is also in a direct line with their 

 passage acro.ss the water and is the first land 

 reached in Massachusetts. 



The appended list includes 202 species, and 

 ai-e divided up thus : Residents twenty-two ; 

 migrants sixty-five; summer residents eighty- 

 two; winter residents twenty-nine, with four 

 as uncertain as accidental. 



It has been deemed advisable to present the 

 list in as brief a form as possible consistant 

 with accuracy of annotations. Many f)utsi(le 

 records have been noted but not entered in this 

 list which represents the united observations of 

 the difterent members dispersed over the county. 



Much credit is due, however, to Messrs. Car- 

 penter and Cahoon for tlieir knowledge of the 

 shore and water birds. 



PodiUjmhus podiceps (Linn.), Pied-billed Grebe. 

 Migrant, common during the fall. 



Urinator imber (Gunn.), Loon. Winter visi- 

 tant, occasionally seen ofl" the coast. 



Urinator lumme (Gunn.), Red-throated Loon. 

 Winter visitant, fairly common along the coast. 



Cepphus (jrijlle (Linn.), Black Guillemot. 

 Winter visitant, not common. 



Uria troile (Linn.), Murre. Rarely recorded, 

 ofl:' our coast in winter. 



Uria lomvia (Linn.), Briinnich's Murre. Win- 

 ter visitant, occasionally seen off" the coast. 



Alca torda Linn., Razor-billed Auk. Win- 

 ter visitant, rai'ely seen off" the coast. 



Alle alle (Linn.), Dovekie. Winter visitant, 

 occasionally seen oft" the coast. One occur- 

 rence inland noted at Rehoboth, November 

 25th, 1885 (O. AND O. Vol. xi. No. 1). 



Stercitrarius parasiticus (Linn.), Parasitic 

 Jaeger. Winter visitant, occurs with the fol- 

 lowing species. 



Stercorarius lomjriandiis Vieill., Long-tailed 

 Jaeger. Winter visitant, tolerably common oft' 

 the coast. 



Bissa tridactfjla (Linn.), Kittiwake. Winter 

 visitant, conunon. 



Larus marinus Linn., Great Black-backed 

 Gull. Winter resident, rare. 



Larus aryentatus smithsonianiis Coues., 

 American Herring Gull. Winter visitant, com- 

 mon. 



Larus atriciUa Linn., Laughing Gull. Sum- 

 mer resident, fairly common. 



Larus Philadelphia (Ord.), Bonapartes Gull. 

 Frequently seen in Autunm. 



Sterna hirundo Linn., C^ommon Tern. Sum- 

 mer resident, common. Breeds. 



Sterna jxtradisa-a Briinn., Artie Tern. Mi- 

 grant. Said to breed. 



Sterna douijalU Montag., Roseate Tern. 

 Summer resident, fairly common. Breeds. 



Copyright, 1887, by F. H. Carpenter and F. B. Webster. 



