A review of the birds of Connecticut

C. Hart (Clinton Hart) Merriam

Sujets

• Connecticut

Informations

• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 4
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

Extrait

ofuniversity
Connecticut
libraries
5
BOOK 598.?9746.M55 1R el
MERRIAM # REVIEW OF BIRDS OF
COMNFCTiruT
3 T1S3 00m7MbM M:
A REVIEW
OF THE
BIRDS OF CONNECTICUT.
BT
C. HART MERRIAM,
NEW HAVEN
PRINTERS.TUTTLE, MOREHOUSE & TAYLOR,
1877.h..Transactions the[From the op Connecticut Academy, Vol. IV, ls77j.
Review of the Birds ofA Connecticut, with Remarks on
THEIR Habits. By C. Hart Merriam.
Read June 1877.20,
The little State of Connecticut, forming, itas does, the soutlnvest-
ern corner of New England, and lying between the forty-first and
41° 3'forty-second parallels (exactly 42°to N.), and extending, in an
east and west direction, from the 55' 50'meridian Vl° to Ta° lon-Avest
gitude, contains an area of but 4,074 s(juare miles. Nevertheless it is
highly probable, so favorably is it situated, that no equal area in the
country can boast a greater number of species of birds than may be
found within its limits. Indeed, nearly half the total number of
species in the United States have already been detected inside its
borders, and it is certain that future investigation will decidedly
increase this number.
Zoologically speaking, Connecticut belongs to that division of
country known as AHeghanianthe Fauna. Still, as Mr. Purdie has
said,* its southern border has an evident tinge of the Carolinian, and
"I may add that this tinge" runs up the valley of the Connecticut
Rivej-, extending completely through the State, and even into Massa-
chusetts.
Some years ago Prof. A. E. Verrill stated that whenever such
birds theas Crossbills, the Spruce Partridge and the Canada Jay
" breed abundantly in any region, it may safely be considered as
belonging to the Canadian Fauna."f With equal truth it may be
said that whenever such birds as the Worm-eating, Blue-winged Yel-
low, and Hooded Warblers, together with the Large-billed Water
Thrush and Yellow breasted Chat, breed regularly and in considerahle
nuinhers^ safely included in the Carolinian Fauna.the region may be
That these species are so found in southei-n Connecticut—notably
about the mouth of the Connecticut River—is now too well known
to need further confirmation.
The dividing lines between the several flxuna? are always more or
sharply defined. The distributionless irregular, and never very
* 1873.Am. Nat., vol. vii. No. 693, Nov.,11, p.
Inst., vol. iii, 138. 1883.Proceed. PJssex p.f
1 July, 1877.Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. IV.—2 C. H. MerricDii Birds Connedicxit.of
of those species l)y whicli the different faunte are distinguished, is
unqnestioiiably governed, in greatmeasure (as shown by ProfessorVer-
rill),* by the temperature during the breeding season, of the regions
commonly breed. Hence dividing lines betweenin which they the
faunae do not follow, when placed on the chart, such smooth, regular
curves as serve to represent the isothermal lines (which show the
temperature for the entire year), but more nearly coincideaverage
indicate the average during thewith lines drawn to temperatm-e
months of April, May, and June,—the period in which the great
majority of singing birds breed. It has been stated by Professor
" line drawn upon the map of Eastern North AmericaVerrill that a
50° during these threerepresenting the mean temperature of F.,
months, will coincide with the southern boundary of the Canadian
Fauna, as previously determined from the examination of the birds
in that sub-division. Another line representing the tem-breeding
65° Allegha-perature of will represent the soiithern boundary of the
nian Faiina,"* as distinguished from the Carolinian.
The fact that, during the thirty-four years that have elapsed since
^'Catalogue the Birds Coniiecticut,''''the publication of Linsley's ofof
sufficientenumeration of the birds of this State has appeared, isno
Connecticut Acad-excuse for the present attempt. Moreover, the
some time since, to publish a series of papers on theemy resolved,
Professor Verrill did me the honor to requestfauna of this State, and
"I should prepare, as the first of this series, A Review of thethat
Connecticut," which I have done as well as the limitedBirds of
disposal would permit.time at my
of East Windsor Hill,In the year 1861, Dr. William Wood, Conn.,
published, in the Hartford Times, a series of twenty-one admirable
"most interesting articles on our Birds of Prey," and it is nmchand
he did not, in like manner, take up the remainingto be regretted that
of the occurrence of some ofgroups. A few brief notices the rarer
species within our limits have, from time to time, appeared in the
of the Nuttall OrnithologicalAmerican Naturalist and Bulletin Club,
but nothing like a systematic list of the birds oi' the State has been
attempted.
has not been to give the largest possible number ofMy object
our knowledgespecies, but to re])resent faithfully true of the Avi-
fauna of Connecticut. An acknowledged fault with most local lists
their authors include, not only those species Aviiich haveis that
from theiractually been detected, but also those which, occurrence
* Am. Jour. Rci. iuid Arts, vol. xli, ]>. 210. (Sooond Rcrios,) ISHfi.
/U