mmim 
( VI ) 
mometrical and Barometrical obfervations, which occur under this head, are given on the authority of my ever- 
venerated maternal uncle, the late David Rittenhoufe, Efq. Thefe obfervations were made in Philadelphia. 
§. V. 
It mud not be imagined, that I communicate thefe ilcetches to the public as exhibiting even the names of all the 
migratory birds of Pennfylvania. I am perfuaded, that many of thefe birds have efcaped my notice. This is, per- 
liaps, Specially the cafe with the birds of the genera Anas, Tringa, and of the extenfive order of Pafferes, 
wTich I fufpea are conflant in their migrations from the north to the fouth, and from the fouth to the north. A 
good many of the birds which are mentioned by Mr. Pennant as natives of New-York have not hitherto, to my 
knowledge, been obferved in Pennfylvania; but it can hardly be fuppofed that thofe fpecies which are com?non in 
New-York (if we except fuch as delight in the vicinity of the fea-coaft) are uncommon, or never feen, in Pennfyl¬ 
vania. Plere, however, I mufl obferve, that I cannot but fufped, that Mr. Pennant, Mr. Latham, and other able 
ornithologifts, have fometimes defcribed as dillina fpecies, birds which merely differ in fex, or in age, and in their 
colouring, for which thefe animals, at diderent feafons of the year, arc fo remarkable. 
§. VI. 
Befides the conflant migratory birds, there are others, which may be denominated occqfional migratory, or vifit- 
ant, birds of Pennfylvania. Such, not to mention feveral others, are the Columba pafferina, or Ground-Pigeon, 
the Fringilla bicolor, or Bahama-Finch, and a fpecies of Pfittacus, or Parrot. 
§. VII. 
The two firft of thefe birds were feen in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, between thirty and forty years ago. 
The Pfittacus, iriofl probably the Pfittacus pertinax, Illinois Parrot, or the Pfittacus carolinenfis, Carolina Parrot, 
has been occafionally obferved in Shareman’s Valley, on Shareman’s Creek, a branch of the river • Sufquehanna, 
within twenty miles of the town of Carline.=*= This laft fad feems to contradid the obfervation of Mr. 
William Bartram, who fays, “ The parakeet (Pfittacus carolinenfis) never reach fo far north as Pennfylvania, which 
to me is unaccountable, confidering they are a bird of fuch fingular rapid fight, they could eafily perform the jour¬ 
ney in ten or twelve hours from North-Carolina, where they are very numerous, and we abound with all the fruits 
which they delight in.^’f It is well known, that the late M. de Buffon had limited the range of the whole of the 
Parrot-kind to exadly twenty-five degrees on each fide of the equator.J Mr. Pennant has fhown that the eloquent 
French naturalift was, in this inftance, mi(laken.§ My obfervation is an additional objedion to the hypothefis. I 
may add, that a very large flight of parakeets, which came from the weftw^ard, was feen, a few years ago, about 
twenty-five miles to the north-weft of Albany, in the ftate of New-York. The arrival of thefe birds in the depth 
of winterII was, indeed, a very remarkable circuinftance. The more ignorant Dutch fettlers were exceedingly 
alarmed. They imagined, in dreadful confternation, that it portended nothing lefs calamitous than the deftrudion 
of the world.^ 
§. VIII. 
I fufped It will be found, that, in general, our fouthern birds migrate farther north in the trad of country weft 
than in that eaft of the great ranges of our mountains. With refped to the birds, I hazard this merely as a con- 
* A friend of mme has informed me, that the Parakeet feen in this valley is the fame fpecies which is frequently met with in the neighbourhood of the river Ohio. This 
lafl is fuppofed to be Pfittacus pertinax. 
•f Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, Eaft and Weft Florida, &c. P. 301. Philadelphia: 1791. 
t Hiftoire Naturelle dfs Oifeaux. Tom. XI. P. 113 and 114. Duodecimo-edition. Paris; 1780. § Ar6tic Zoology. Voi.. T. P. jj In January, 1780, 
^ Thisfa6l was communicated to mehy Egbert Benfon, Efq. of the State of New-York. 
