PREFATORY NOTE 



The water birds of North America constitute almost exactly one- 

 third of the total bird-fauna of the continent, the number of species and 

 races known at the present time being 313, and of land birds, 642.* 



Much the larger proportion of the aquatic species have more or less 

 to do with the subject of the fisheries, for the reason that they are, to 

 a greater or less extent, destructive to fishes or are themselves exten- 

 sively used for bait, the latter being conspicuously the case at the New- 

 foundland Banks, where several species of petrels, more especially, on 

 account of its greater abundance, the Greater Shearwater ("Hagdon," 

 or " Old Hag," of the fishermen, Pufftnus major), constitute the princi- 

 pal bait in the catching of codfish. 



Several Families, or even entire Orders, of water birds are eminently 

 destructive to the "finny tribe," some of them being entirely piscivor- 

 ous, as the Order Steganopodes (including the pelicans, gannets, cor- 

 morants, and allied Families), while certain herons, some ducks (more 

 especially the mergansers), the gulls and terns, loons or divers, grebes, 

 and auks feed principally, if not entirely, upon fishes. In fact, with 

 the exception of the " shore birds" (Order Limicoloe, including the 

 snipes, sandpipers, plovers, and allied forms), "marsh birds" (Paludi- 

 colae, or rail and crane tribes), and the herbivorous Anatidse (swans, 

 geese, and river ducks), all water birds may be said to be piscivorous 

 to a greater or less degree. 



Not water birds alone, however, claim attention as fish destroyers, 

 several " land birds " being conspicuously noted for their piscatorial in- 

 stincts. As examples, may be briefly mentioned the kingfishers (of 

 which there are two North American species) and the fish hawk, or 

 osprey; while even a Passerine bird, the American water ouzel, or 

 dipper (Cinelus mexicanus), is said to work considerable havoc to the 

 spawn of the trout and other fishes inhabiting the mountain districts 

 of Western North America.t 



* Of water birds there are 286 species and 27 geographical races, or subspecies ; of 

 laud birds, 497 species and 145 races. 



t Since these species cannot properly be included among the water birds, a list of 

 the specimens exhibited is given herewith : 

 American Water Ouzel, or Dipper, Cinelus mexicanus, Sw. — *No. 53340. Adult, 



source of American River, California, November 19, 1867 : H. G. Parker. 

 Belted Kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon (L.). — *a. No. 77263, $ ad., Cook County, Illinois, 

 April 21, 1870; Greene Smith. *6. No. 89875, Gainesville, Fla. ; G. Shoemaker. 

 Texan Kingfisher, Ceryle ameficana cabanisi (Tsch.). — *cr. No. 29330, $ ad., Western 

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