Brewster.] 368 [October 3, 



found by previous explorers, the design being to record our per- 

 sonal experience rather than to make a complete list of the birds 

 known to inhabit the region traversed. In narrating this exper- 

 ience ground already covered has been as far as possible avoided ; 

 but in a few cases, especially those of exceptionally interesting 

 birds, and of questions not definitely settled, I have disregarded 

 such restrictions, trusting that there may be still room for original 

 observations and impressions, even if they offer little that is 

 positively new. 



As regards nomenclature, no particular authority has been 

 followed. On the contrary, believing as I do that neither of the 

 systems at present accepted is founded on sound principles and 

 that many of the changes which they include have been made on 

 insufficient, and often wholly indefensible grounds, I have ven- 

 tured in certain cases to indulge personal preferences espec- 

 ially in the matter of reviving an occasional familiar name that 

 has done duty too long and too honorably to be lightly discarded. 

 Possibly such conservalism is not always warranted ; but it is at 

 least legitimate in the present unsettled state of our nomen- 

 clature. 1 



1. Turdus migratorius, Linn. — Robin. 



At almost every point where our vessel touched, the Robin was 

 a common bird. As at home it seemed to prefer the vicinity of 

 houses and settlements, but it frequently occurred in the depths 

 of the loneliest forests. On Amherst Island I found a pair breed- 

 ing among some stunted spruces, and at Ellis Bay, Anticosti, 

 fully-fledged young were seen July 24. 



2. Turdus fuscescens, Steph. — Wilson's Thrush. 



Rather to my surprise I came upon a pair of these Thrushes at 

 Ellis Bay, Anticosti, on July 24. They were in a thicket of 

 mountain maples (Acer spicatum) where they apparently had a 

 brood of young, for they showed much concern at my presence, ap- 

 proaching within a yard or two and uttering their characteristic 

 pheu in an anxious tone. I did not shoot either of them (chiefly 

 because they kept so near me that I could not fire without the 

 certainity of mutilating the specimen), but they were seen so dis- 



l Since the above was written a committee has been appointed by the American 

 Ornithologists' Union to revise the nomenclature of North American bird". Their 

 work, although well advanced towards completion, is not as yet available. 



