COUES, BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 5 



All. — J. A. Allen; Catalogue of the Birds of Springfield, Mass., with 

 a list of Birds found in Massachusetts not observed at Springfield. 

 Proceedings of the Essex Institute, vol. iv, p. 48. 1864. 



Ham. — Prof. C. E. Hamlin; Catalogue of the Birds found in the 

 vicinity of Waterville, Kennebec Co., Me. Reprinted from the 

 Report of the Secretary of the Maine Board of Agriculture for 1865. 



McIl. — T. Mcllwraith ; List of Birds observed near Hamilton, Canada 

 West. Proceedings of the Essex Institute, v, p. 79. 1866. 



Lawe. — G.N.Lawrence; Catalogue of Birds observed on New York, 

 Long and Staten Islands, and adjacent parts of New Jersey. Annals 

 of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, vol. viii. 1866. 



B. S. N. H. — Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History. 

 8vo. Boston, 1841, et seq. passim. Various papers and notes on 

 New England Birds, by Drs. Abbot, Brewer, Bryant, Cabot, 

 Kneeland, and others. Especially vols, ii, pp. 36, 248; iii, pp. 136, 

 313, 326, 333, 335; iv, p. 346; v, pp. 154, 195; vi, pp. 386, 419, etc. 



In addition to the preceding, numerous references to 

 Birds of New England are to be found in Nuttall's 

 Manual of Ornithology ; in the Biographies of Audubon ; 

 in Brewer's North American Oology ; in the Birds of 

 North America by Baird, Cassin, and Lawrence ; and in 

 Baird's Review of American Birds. 



VULTURID^. 



^Cathartes aura lUig. — Turkey Vulture. Turkey Buz- 

 zard. Rare or occasional summer visitant, chiefly in more 

 southern portions. (Calais, Me., Verr., p. 122; one in- 

 stance. — Mass., two- instances, Sam., p. 3; AIL, p. 81. 

 — Regular summer visitant near Chatham, and along the 

 shores of Lake St. Clair. Mcll., p. 80. — Omitted from 

 8am. 0. O.) 



so very small a per centage of the New England birds. The original portions of 

 the text are not better, nor much worse than the average of ornithological writings 

 as regards style, accuracy, and completeness. But the great blemish of the work is 

 the omission of tliirty or forty species properly to be enumerated as Birds of New 

 England. We can find no excuse for such carelessness as this. We cannot attrib- 

 ute it to Mr. Samuels' want of knowledge in the matter; for surely he cannot be 

 ignorant of Mr. Putnam's, Mr. Boardman's, Prof. Verrill's, Mr. Allen's, and others' 

 local lists, — not to mention his own "Descriptive List," in which several species 

 are given that do not appear in his latter work, — either of which would put him in 

 possession of much additional matter for his work. It is not to the point that many, 

 or most, of the species he omits are rare, occasional, or accidental visitors in New 

 England. Such a work as his professes to be sliould at least make mention of 

 every bird that has actually been found in New England " and adjoinmg States 

 and provinces." 



In the present list — perhaps more needed since, than before the appearance 

 of Mr. Samuels' work — we notice Mr. Samuel's omissions in detail; and tlie reader 

 is left to judge for himself,™ each instance, what sort of authority we have for in- 

 cluding those species that we condemn Mr. Samuels for omitting. We quote Mr. 

 Samuds' later work as "Sam. O. O." to distinguish it from his Descriptive List, re- 

 ferred to by the abbreviation " Sam." 



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