The birds of Ontario; being a concise account of every species of bird known to have been found in Ontario, with a description of their nests and eggs, and instructions for collecting birds and preparing and preserving skins, also directions how to form a collection of eggs

Front matter

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Contents

PREFACE .

INTRODUCTION : COLLECTING AND PREPARING SnernENs Nests anp Hees ORDER Peaoroane—_Diving Birds Family Podicipidee—Grebes " Urinatoridze—Loons 1 Alecidee—Auks, Murres and Puftins OrDER LonGIrpENNES—Long-winged Swimmers .

Family Stercorariidee—Skuas and Jaegers " Laridze—Gulls and Terns : ORDER STEGANOPODES—Totipalmate Swimmers .

Preface

Tue first edition of “THe Birps oF OnTario” had its origin in the Hamilton Association, a local scientific society of which I am one of the oldest members.

In the spring of 1885, I read the introductory part of this book as a paper at one of the ordinary meetings. So few people devote any time to the study of Ornithology, that the subject was quite new to the Association, and, at the request of those present, I afterwards supplemented the paper with a record of the names of all the birds observed during my excursions near the city. By giving a technical description of each, I hoped to enable anyone desirous of pursuing the study to identify those birds likely to be found in the same district. The whole was subsequently published in book form by the Association, under the name of “The Birds of Ontario.” Each member received a copy, and the balance of the issue was placed in the hands of the booksellers, but the number published was limited, and the book is now entirely out of the market.

The kind reception of the first edition by the public, and the numerous inquiries which have recently been made for copies of the book, have induced me to prepare this second edition, which I hope may be equally fortunate in meeting with public favor.

In the first edition the accounts of the birds were, to a great extent, the result of my own observations made in the vicinity of Hamilton, where I have resided for the past forty years. Nearly all of our native birds being migratory, the record given of each species was necessarily incomplete. Some were mentioned as winter visitors, others as summer residents, and a numerous class as spring and autumn migrants, visiting southern Ontario on their annual journey to and from their breeding places farther north.

In the present edition, it has been my object to place on record, as far as possible, the name of every bird that has been observed in Ontario ; to show how the different species are distributed throughout the Province; and, especially, to tell where they spend the breeding season. To do this, I have had to refer to the notes of

Vili PREFACE.

those who have visited the remote homes of the birds, at points often far apart and not easy of access, and to use their observations, published or otherwise, when they tend to throw light on the history of the birds observed in Ontario.

Of the. works I have found most useful in this connection, I have pleasure in mentioning Mr. Ernest E. Thompson’s “ Birds of Manitoba,” published by the Smithsonian Institute at Washington. In it the author records his ornithological notes made during a three years’ residence in Manitoba, as well as the numerous observations by others of similar tastes in different parts of the Province with whom he was in correspondence.

Mr. E. W. Nelson, an officer of the United States Signal Service, has furnished the material for a work on the birds of an entirely new field, and has greatly extended our knowledge of many species which are common at different points as migrants. The work is a history of the collection of birds made by the author in Alaska during the years 1877 to 1881. It is edited by Mr. W. H. Henshaw, and handsomely illustrated. Issued by the Signal Service at Washington, it has been liberally distributed among the lovers of birds.

The ornithological work which has attracted the greatest amount of attention lately is entitled, “The Hawks and Owls of the United States in their Relation to Agriculture,” prepared under the direction of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Ornithologist, by Dr. A. K. Fisher, Assistant. This is a book of two hundred pages, enriched with colored illustrations of most of the birds it describes.

I have also found much that is interesting in the “ Life Histories of North American Birds, with special reference to their Breeding Habits and Eggs,” by Captain Charles Bendire, United States Army (retired). This work, which has now reached four hundred pages, is still in progress, and promises to be the most useful work we have on the subjects of which it treats.

To Mr. Oliver Davie I am greatly indebted for the privilege of using the information contained in his “ Nests and Eggs of North American Birds,” without which my record in that department would have been incomplete.

With regard to the distribution of the birds, I have found a great deal of information in a “Catalogue of Canadian Birds,” with notes on the distribution of species by Montague Chamberlain.

In the Annual Reports of the Ornithological Sub-section of the Canadian Institute are many interesting notices of rare birds found near Toronto and elsewhere throughout the country.

PREFACE. ix

I have also had frequent occasion to refer to the writings of Dr. Coues, Robert Ridgway, J. A. Allen, Dr. Merriam, Dr. Fisher, Wm. Brewster; Dr. Bell, Prof. Macoun, and Geo. R. White, of Ottawa ; Dr. Macallum, of Dunnville; J. M. Lemoine, Quebec; Amos W. Butler, Indiana; Manly Hardy, of Brewer, Maine; W. FP. Peacock, Marysville, California; Dr. P. L. Hatch, Minnesota; A. J. Cook, Michigan, to all of whom I now return my best thanks for the privilege of using their writings, as well as to many others who have in various ways contributed toward the completion of this work. I hope it may be found useful to those beginning the study of Ornithology. I wish for their sakes, as well as for the interest of the subject, that it were better than it is, but it has been written at spare hours amid the frequently recurring calls of business, and this may account for some of its imperfections.

The classification and nomenclature used correspond with the “Check List of North American Birds,” published by the American Ornithologists’ Union.

THOMAS McILWRAITH.

CAIRNBRAE, HAMILTON, CANADA, February Ist, 1894.

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