26 PROCEEDINGS MANCHESTER INSTITUTE 



Here is given the first list of New Hampshire birds that has ap- 

 peared in print. One hundred and twenty- two species are list- 

 ed by their English and Latin names as then used, and eight 

 other names are included among the addenda, on the authority 

 of one Mr. Peck. Considering that this list was prepared long 

 before the days of the " A. O. U., " when there were no popular 

 handbooks nor guides beyond Linnaeus' Systema Naturae, one 

 cannot but be impressed by the care and accuracy shown by the 

 compiler, here as elsewhere in the volume. Of these one hun- 

 dred and thirty names, probably at least five are but repetitions, 

 and of the rest, there are but seven or eight whose identity may 

 not be guessed at with more or less confidence. Belknap con- 

 sidered no less than four of the species he listed, to be new to 

 science, and these he distinguished bj^ new specific names in a 

 style of type different from that used for the specific names of 

 the other species. These four "new" birds were: — "Speck- 

 led Woodpecker, Picus maculosus,'' "Large Spotted 

 Plover, Charadrius maculatus^'" " Winter Sparrow, Frin- 

 gilla grisea,'" and " Brown Flycatcher, Mtiscicapa fusca.'' 



It is of course impossible now to determine in how far Bel- 

 knap's identifications were correct, and one may reasonably 

 'question the occurrence in New Hampshire, even in those days, 

 of such birds as the " Carolina Woodpecker, Picus carolinus,'' 

 and the " Crested Titmouse, Parus bicolor. " It must be borne 

 in mind, however, that great changes in the ranges and relati\^ 

 abundance of many birds must have taken place since Belknap's 

 day. No other State list of New Hampshire birds has since 

 been published, and because of its unusual interest as a scrap 

 of early literature on the subject, it is reprinted herewith, verba- 

 tmi et literatim^ the probable identity of each name being indi- 

 cated by the Latin combination in brackets following : — 



' ' Of birds we have a great variety. The following catalogue 

 is the most full, which has been collected, but cannot boast of 

 perfection. 



Bald Eagi,E, Falco leucocephalus [Haliactus 



leucocephalus]. 



