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8 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [BuU. 



species nest more or less regularly within its borders, and it is 

 probable there are few localities in our country where so many 

 can be found within so circumscribed an area. Almost the entire 

 state lies in the Alleghenian Zone, where such birds as the Ruffed 

 Grouse, Red-shouldered Hawk, Kingbird, Least Flycatcher, Bobo- 

 link, Baltimore Oriole, Goldfinch, Towhee, Indigo Bunting, Scar- 

 let Tanager, Red-eyed, and Warbling Vireos, Black and White, 

 Yellow, and Chestnut-sided Warblers, Catbird, Brown Thrasher, 

 Chickadee,Wood, and Wilson's Thrushes, nest abundantly. Along 

 the southern border and for some distance up the Housatonic and 

 Connecticut valleys, the breeding, often in abundance, of such 

 species as the Clapper Rail, Fish Crow, Acadian Flycatcher, 

 Orchard Oriole, Seaside Sparrow, White-eyed Vireo, Worm- 

 eating, Blue-winged, Prairie, Hooded, and Kentucky Warblers, 

 Louisiana Water-thrush, and Yellow-breasted Chat brings this dis- 

 trict within the northern limits of the Carolinian Zone ; while the 

 occasional, and in some cases regular, breeding of the Canadian 

 Ruffed Grouse, Goshawk, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Alder Fly- 

 catcher, Savannah, and White-throated Sparrows ( ?) , Blue-headed 

 Vireo, Black-throated Blue, Magnolia (?), Blackburnian, and 

 Canadian Warblers, Winter Wren (?), Red-breasted Nuthatch, 

 and Hermit Thrush, in the northwestern part of Litchfield County, 

 shows at least strong Canadian elements in the avifauna, though 

 it may not be enough to include that district in the Canadian 

 Zone. 



Interest in our birds must have existed among many in the 

 earlier days of Connecticut, and scattered references to them may 

 be found in many volumes ; but the first definite list of the birds 

 of the state was written by the Rev. James H. Linsley, of Strat- 

 ford,^ and published in the American Journal of Science and Arts 

 in 1843. He recorded' 302 species, but of these Dr. Merriam'' con- 

 cluded that only 239 distinct species had been reported on satis- 

 factory evidence. He recorded several birds that have not since 

 been reported from our state, and some of his specimens are still 

 in the Peabody Museum of Yale University;, and others in the 

 collection of the Bridgeport Scientific Society. 



1 A Catalogue of Birds of Connecticut, arranged according to their natural 

 families; by the Rev. James H. Linsley. Am. Jour. Sci. and Arts, vol. xliv. No. 

 2, pp. 249-74, April. 1843. 



* Merriam, Review of the Birds of Connecticut, p. 144. 



