‘ 
PREFACE. 
—u 
In presenting this list of British Columbia Birds, I am 
fully aware of its incompleteness, and regret very much its 
lack of more definite information respecting certain species. 
The difficulties in the way of procuring reliable data con- 
cerning the birds of this Province are very great. British 
Columbia is a country of “magnificent distances”—a 
country where the modes of travel are slow and expensive 
compared with other portions of the Dominion—a country 
where “distribution” is a problem in itself; so much so, 
that to obtain specimens of all our birds one must travel 
the entire length and breadth of the Province. The 
Cascade Mountains form an absolute barrier to many 
species, east and west. The Gulf of Georgia shuts off 
other species from Vancouver Island, the west coast of 
which is the habitat of others which are strangers to the 
waters separating the Island from the Mainland; and 
throughout the Province there occur other lines, purely 
imaginary, over which certain species never pass. 
The labour of collecting together the material for this 
list has, however, been greatly lightened by the co-operation 
of the following personal friends, who, occupying widely 
separated portions of the Province, have furnished me with 
valuable notes concerning the birds of their respective dis- 
tricts ; and to these I now offer my sincere thanks for their 
kind assistance :— 
To Mr. W. B. Anderson, of Fort Simpson and Comox ; 
Mr. James Porter, of Dease Lake, Cassiar ; Capt. and Miss 
Cox, of Cape Beale Light House; Mr. Allen C. Brooks, of 
Chilliwhack ; Mr. R. V. Griffen, of Similkameen ; the late 
Mr. Geo. Hyde, of Beaver Pass, Cariboo; and Mr. H. W. 
Harvey, of Clinton. 
