LOCAL LISTS 



Every county should have a local list of the birds found 

 therein at various seasons. Such a list can be prepared by 

 any individual who will be exacting and secure all available 

 data, but can be done more thoroughly by a bird club or 

 natural history society. Such a list should, if possible, be 

 printed for distribution or for sale at a nominal figure. There 

 are a great many ways in which local lists can be gotten out, 

 but however they are made, there are certain features that 

 must be incorporated if the lists are to be of the most value. 



It is important to show the resident birds, those that are 

 present at all seasons of the year, grouped so the fact that 

 they are residents is apparent. It is important that the 

 winter birds should be so listed that one can readily see what 

 birds to expect during the winter. Breeding birds too 

 should be distinctly separated from those that do not breed. 

 Migratory and all birds that are not residents should have 

 the dates of arrival, giving the earliest date and the average, 

 provided that the investigations have covered a period of 

 years. The time that they are here and the time that they 

 leave or pass through on the fall migrations should also be 

 indicated. 



Following is a list of the birds of New England as given in 

 "Wild Birds of New England," by the author of this volume. 

 This list is given here because it shows the possibilities of 

 making local lists that will be quite complete for every month 

 in the year. The lightness or heaviness of the lines denote 

 the comparative abundance at any time, and a double line 

 denotes that the species breeds at that time. It shows readily 

 just the status of each species in the locality. While we 

 have used it to cover several states, such a list would be much 

 better to cover a single county, and the only change I would 

 suggest would be to have more room for the remarks con- 

 cerning each species: 



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