( 3 °) 
coast. The water birds, in particular, have been much less care¬ 
fully studied than the land birds. 
To show what may be done by close observation, I may men¬ 
tion that Mr. C. J. Maynard discovered an entirely new species, 
the Ipswich Sparrow, among the Ipswich sand hills in Massa¬ 
chusetts as recently as 1868 ; and birds new to particular localities 
are constantly discovered—thirty-five, for instance, having been 
added to the Massachusetts list since 1S67. 
The American Ornithologists’ Union, formed last September, 
have appointed a committee on the migration of birds, and have 
issued a series of questions to be answered by any one who is 
willing to make observations on the birds of his particular local¬ 
ity—a step which will doubtless result in the collection of a mass 
of information of great interest. 
Southern New England, I believe, has been less carefully studied 
than the more northern parts—than eastern Massachusetts in partic¬ 
ular, and the birds of Newport offer still an interesting field for observ¬ 
ers. It has been found by numerous observations, and the fact has 
been thus expressed by Dr. Coues that “ anyone United States lo¬ 
cality of average attractiveness to birds has a bird fauna of over 
two hundred species and, if it be away from the sea coast and con¬ 
sequently uninhabited by marine birds, about one fourth of the 
species are comprised in the two families of the Sylvicolidce ” (or 
Warblers, a family of insectivorous birds—small, but often of 
almost tropical brilliancy of plumage,) “and the Fringillidcz, ” 
(the Sparrows and Finches, which for the most part are graniv- 
orous). In larger districts—such as a whole state or section of the 
country—this number is of course much exceeded. The most 
recent list of the birds of Massachusetts that I know of, gives the 
number as 316. The number of the birds of New England is 
361. I do not know whether any list of the birds of Rhode 
Island has yet been published. 
The total number of North American birds north of Mexico 
and including Greenland and Alaska, is 8S8 as given by Dr. Cones 
in his list of 1SS2. As to the numbers in which the birds are 
found, there is of course every gradation, from great abundance 
to extreme rarity. 
In New England, many species have greatly diminished since 
the colonial times and some have become extinct. The Pinnated 
