THE OOLOGIST 



341 



A Preliminary List of the Water Birds 

 Of the Middle Delaware Valley. 



The Middle Delaware Valley is that 

 part of the Delaware River below tide- 

 water at Trenton and above Salem, 

 N. Y. The description of the region 

 is deferred until the completion of the 

 list when all remarks about how the 

 cities of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

 and Camden, New Jersey influence the 

 occurrence of the birds, etc., will be 

 commented on in the fuller report. 



The reason I refrain from using the 

 scientific names, which are supposed 

 to be of such importance in a list of 

 this nature, is to economize the ac- 

 cepted English names of our birds as 

 well as to economize space, and as all 

 birds have common names by which 

 they are known to ornithologists, it 

 .seemed to me superfluous to give the 

 scientific ones also in a preliminary 

 report. 



1. Holboell Grebe; rare winter vis- 

 itant; October to March. 



2. Horned Grebe; common tran- 

 sient; spring and fall. 



3. Pied-billed Grebe; common 

 spring and fall transient. Both spe- 

 cies occur rarely in late summer. 



4. Loon. Rare transient, spring 

 and fall; rarely seen in winter; occurs 

 chiefly in November. 



5. Red-throated Loon. An uncom- 

 mon .spring and fall transient; chiefly 

 occurs late in the autumn. 



6. Black Guillemot. An extreme- 

 ly rare straggler during severe stormy 

 winters. 



7. Puffin. An accidental winter 

 wanderer of exceeding rarity. 



8. Brunnich Murre. Rare winter 

 straggler. 



9. Razor-billed Auk. An extremeb 

 rare wanderer during stormy, severt 

 winters. 



10. Dovekie. An exceedingly rare 



straggler during severe storms in win- 

 ter. 



11. Pomarine Jaeger. Also occurs 

 rarely during severe winters. 



12. Kittiwake. Of doubtful occur- 

 rence in .severe winters. 



13. Herring Gull. Abundant; Sep- 

 tember to May. Our commonest Gull. 

 Often occurs inland. 



14. Ring-billed Gull. Common, as- 

 sociated with the preceding. October 

 to April. 



15. Laughing Gull. Common spring 

 and fall transient. 



16. Bonaparte Gull. Not a rare 

 transient. 



17. Franklin Gull. Rare straggler. 



18. Gull-billed Tern. Occurs rare- 

 ly during former years. 



19. Caspian Tern. An accidental 

 wanderer. 



20. Royal Tern. An accidental 

 straggler. 



21. Forster Tern. A rare visitor 

 in former years in all probability when 

 it was not an infrequent transient 

 along the New Jersey coast. 



22. Common Tern. Common tran- 

 sient; April and May and August to 

 October. 



23. Arctic Tern. Accidental strag- 

 gler in former years. 



24. Roseate Tern. Not a rare visi- 

 tant in spring and fall in former years 

 when it bred on the New Jersey coast. 



25. Least Tern. Occurred not rare- 

 ly during former years in spring and 

 fall, when it bred commonly on the 

 coast islands of New Jersey. 



26. Sooty Tern. An extremely rare 

 iimmer wanderer. 



27. Black Tern. Common spring 

 md fall transient. 



28. Black Skimmer. Of rare occur- 

 rence in former years when it bred in 

 New Jersey. 



29. Greater Shearwater. Accident- 



