( 4 ) 
Wm. C. Rives Jr., M. D. In a modest way, contributions on 
Rhode Island bird matters have been sent to the “Forest and 
Stream ” by Mr. Newton Dexter of Providence ; and to his lib¬ 
erality the Franklin Society and the collection at Brown Univer¬ 
sity are both indebted for most of their best local specimens. 
(Notably a Trumpeter Swan, Harlequin Duck, Purple Gallinule, 
Turkey Buzzard, Passenger Pigeons in full plumage, and others.) 
Mr. Fred T. Jencks has also done zealous work for ten years and 
contributed short articles to the Providence Jour?ial and to or¬ 
nithological papers published outside the State. 
From the geological deposits in many parts of the United 
States, have been brought to light the fossil remains of strange 
bird-like forms. In the jaws of many were true teeth, sometimes 
fitting into sockets, sometimes into grooves like those of reptiles. 
Often the vertebrae were continued beyond the body, into a lizard 
like tail; if there were feathers, they stood out at right angles, on 
either side, a pair to each bone. 
Some of these birds flew about and fished the waters like the 
Terns or Gulls of the present day; in some the rudimentary 
wings were useless for flight; they varied in size from that of a 
robin to about six feet long. From Rhode Island the deposits 
have been swept away, that should indicate such residents within 
our borders. But turning to a consideration of recent time. 
The latest reported capture anywhere of the Labrador Duck 
was in 1875, while it was extremely rare for fifteen years pre¬ 
vious to that time. I do not doubt that this bird was a visitor to 
Narragansett Bay. At present some thirty skins, held chiefly by 
the museums of America, are all that is left to us. Another bird, 
supposed to have become extinct in 1844, exterminated by the 
agency of man, is the Great Auk. To-day a good skin is worth 
$600.00 and only five of them are in the possession of American mu¬ 
seums. I do not know that any writers allow this bird a range 
south of Cape Cod, north of there the many bones found in shell 
heaps attest to its past abundance. Its smaller relative, the Razor¬ 
bill Auk, has, during the past winter, been quite common at 
Newport. I fancy the other was found there at the proper sea¬ 
sons of the year. Doubtless the Pinnated Grouse or Prairie 
Chicken roamed through our woods, in the years that are past, 
