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A List of the Birds of Long Island, New York. 

 By William C. Braislin, ]\I. D. 



"All Nature is so full, that that district produces the greatest variety 

 which is the most examined." White's Natural History of Selbourne. 



Long Island, New York, is about 120 miles long by from 

 8 to 18 miles broad, with a nearly straight coast-line on the 

 south shore, along the ocean front, but broken on the north 

 by the more or less abrupt indentures of Long Island Soimd. 

 Its general position is about parallel with the coast-line of the 

 mainland, trending slightly northward from west to east. The 

 north shore in general is abrupt and hilly, owing to a low range 

 of hills termed the " backbone of the island," which, in places 

 along the Sound, form high, bold bluffs often 100 feet and more 

 in height. The south shore fronts the Atlantic Ocean, forming 

 an outlying beach separated, in great part, from the land by 

 shallow bays and salt marshes. Except at its eastern extremity 

 this beach is low and sandy, shifting somewhat year by year 

 imder the influence of the winds as well as by the action of 

 the tides and waves. 



At the western end of the island lies one of the largest cities 

 of the world, and elsewhere are summering towns as w^ell as a 

 rapidly increasing permanent population. These influences are 

 changing its natural aspect, but notwithstanding, its bird popu- 

 lation will probably remain much the same as it is at present 

 for a long time to come. Its bays and marshes are still famous 

 as a resort for water-fowl, and its position in respect to the 

 mainland — its eastern extremity jutting well seaward — makes 

 it a frequent resort for waifs of bird life lost or driven off the 

 coast by storms during the perilous semi-annual migrations. 

 Of European water-birds recorded from Long Island the list 

 is comparatively long; some birds from the far West have been 



