MEASUREMENTS— RAVQE. 



37 



Mensurements. — All the measurements given are in 

 English inches and hundredths. Those of birds are 

 average measurements, taken for the most part from 

 specimens in the American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory. I have also, with the author's permission, made 

 use of the excellent series of measurements in Dr. E. A. 

 Mearns's Birds of the Hudson Highlands. A variation 

 of about ten per cent from the figures given may be 

 expected. 



The total length (= L.) of a bird is found by gently 

 stretching the specimen, laying it on its back, and 

 measuring the distance from the end of its bill to the 

 tip of its longest tail-feather. The length of the wing 

 {= W.) is the distance from the "bend of the wing" to 

 the end of the longest primary. The length of the tail 

 (= T.) is the distance from the base, or insertion of the 

 middle feather, to the end of the longest feather. The 

 length of the tarsus (= Tar.) is the distance from the 

 base, or insertion of the toes, to the end of the tibia, or 

 what in reality is the heel. The "tarsus" is therefore 

 the true foot of the bird, while the part to which this 

 name is generally applied consists only of the toes. 

 The length of the bill (= B.), or "culmen," is the dis- 

 tance from the anterior base of the feathers on the 

 forehead to the tip of the upper mandible. With the 

 exception of total length these measurements are gen- 

 erally taken with a pair of dividers. 



Iinj)ge. — The paragraphs under this heading have 

 been prepared with special reference to the bird's dis- 

 tribution in eastern North America. They are sup- 

 plemented by a concise statement of the bird's manner 

 of occurrence and the nnudl times of migration of the 

 nonresident species at three or four localities. This 

 information is the best it is possible to obtain, and has 

 not been previously i)iiblished. Each locality is treated 

 by a recognized authority on its bird-life from notes 

 based on observations extending over many years. 



The data from Washington. I). C, were supplied by 

 Mr. C. W, Richmond, of the Smithsonian Institution. 

 Not only has Mr. Richmond given years to field work 

 in the District of Columbia, but he has had access to 

 the notes of the numerous ornithologists who have 

 observed in the same region. 



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