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CANADA DEPARTMENT OF MINES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BRANCH Hon. W. TEMPLEMAN, MINISTER: A P. Low, Deputy MINISTER; R. W. Brock, Director. CATALOGUE oF CANADIAN BIRDS BY JOHN MACOUN, Naturalist to the Geological Survey, Canada. AND JAMES M. MACOUN, Assistant Naturalist to the Geological Survey, Canada, OTTAWA: GOVERNMENT PRINTING BUREAU 1909. [No. 973.] OANITH Q oes Acs (909 The Catalogue of Canadian Birds was published in three parts, the first appearing in 1900 and the last in 1904. In it were enumerated systematically all the known birds of Canada together with the principal facts in regard to their distribu- tion, migrating and breeding habits. The interest taken in this sub- ject by the public was evinced by the reception accorded the cata- logue, the stock being exhausted almost immediately after publica- tion. In the present edition much of the matter has been re-written and many additional facts recorded and the whole combined into one volume. R. W. BROCK. Ottawa, Oct., 21, 1909. PREFACE. In compiling this catalogue the authors have endeavoured to bring together facts on’ the range and nesting habits of all birds known to reside in, migrate to or visit, the northern part of the continent. In addition to the Dominion of Canada they have therefore included Newfoundland, Greenland and Alaska. The nomenclature and the numbers given in the latest edition and supple- ments of the Check-list published by the American Ornithologists’ Union have been madé the basis of arrangement of the catalogue. The order followed in the notes on each bird is, as a general rule, from east to west. Greenland is generally cited first and British Columbia and Alaska last. As the catalogue is intended to be a popular and practical one, the English names of the birds are placed first, but the species are arranged in their scientific order and in accordance with the latest nomenclature. While recognizing the differences upon which many of the technical names have been based, the writer holds that some of them, depending as they do upon local and almost upon individual variations from a common type, possess from any practical or educational standpoint but a minor value. To an investigator of changes resulting from environment such differences are of great interest, but to any one anxious only to obtain the facts in regard to the distribution of our birds as readily determinable, they are unimpor- tant. Until the publication of the first edition of this Catalogue, no attempt had been made to produce a work dealing with the ornith- ology of the region now embraced in the Dominion of Canada since the publication of the Fauna Borealt Americana by Swainson and Richardson, in 1831. In the work referred to the authors include separate notices of all birds that had been recorded north of Lat. 48°. Two hundred and forty species are described and twenty-seven additional West Coast species are added, making a total of two hundred and sixty-seven species known at that date. The first attempt to catalogue the birds of Canada as a whole was made in 1887, when Mr. Montague Chamberlain, of St. John, New Brunswick, published A Catalogue of Canadian Birds with Notes on the distribution of the Species. Previous to this, Mr. Thomas MclIlwraith, of Hamilton, Ontario, published his Birds of Ontario, which included the birds known to occur in that province iv PREFACE, only. The second edition of this work was published in 1894 and included 317 species. The Birds of Manitoba, by E. T. Seton, was published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1891, and, as its name implies, covered little more than that province. Mr. C. E. Dionne, of Quebec, published a catalogue of the birds of that province, with notes on their geographical distribution, in_1889, and in 1896 Mr. Emest D. Wintle published in Montreal a valuable little work entitled Birds of Montreal. Mr. John Fannin, the curator of the Provincial Museum in Victoria, British Columbia, published a Catalogue of the Birds of British Columbia, the second edition of which was issued in 1898. In this catalogue he included his own extensive knowledge and that of all other observers in the province. Since then a new edition of this Catalogue has been published by Mr. Kermode the present curator of the museum. While others were engaged in gathering and publishing the valuable information con- tained in the above mentioned works and others of less importance, the writer although attending to other subjects which claimed most of his time had constantly before him the necessity of the present work and has been collecting notes and observations for it during all his journeys since 1879, while his assistant, Mr. J. M. Macoun, has carried on similar work since 1885. The summers of 1879 and 1880 were spent by the writer on the prairies west of Manitoba, the season of 1881 in northern Manitoba, the summers of 1882 and 1883 along the lower St. Lawrence, that of 1884 around Lake Nipigon, of 1885 in the Rocky and Selkirk mountains on the line of the Canadian Pacific railway, of 1887 on Vancouver Island and of 1888 on Prince Edward Island. Mr. J. M. Macoun spent the early spring and summer of 1885 at Lake Mistassini and in 1888 travelled from Lesser Slave Lake east by way of the Athabaska and Churchill rivers to Lake Winnipeg. The notes for the years mentioned above appear under our own names. Practically all observations made by either of us since that time are credited to Mr. William Spread- borough, who since 1889 has accompanied either one or other of us to the field nearly every year and as all the collecting was done by him some confusion and repetition has been obviated by the inclusion of our own observations with his and by the omission of our names for the years he was with us. In some years, notably in 1896, 1898, 1904, 1906 and 1907, Mr. Spreadborough worked quite inde- pendently of either of us. It detracts nothing from the importance of other notes published for the first time in this Catalogue to say that its chief value is to be found in the matter credited to Mr. PREFACE. Vv Spreadborough. His notes, revised by us, cover nearly the whole Dominion from Labrador and Hudson bay to Vancouver island and north to the Peace river. A more detailed statement of the work done in each year will give a better idea of the extent of country covered. In 1889 Mr. Spreadborough was with the authors for two months at Hastings and Agassiz on the lower Fraser river; the remainder of the season was spent between Spence Bridge and the Columbia river. The next season he began work at Revelstoke, on the Columbia and spent the summer in the mountains south and east. The spring of 1891 found him at Banff in the Rocky mountains before the birds began to move, and he remained there all summer. As Mr. E. T. Seton (then E. Seton-Thompson) had already covered Manitoba with his excellent work, it was considered best for Mr. Spreadborough in the following year to visit Indian Head in the prairie country to the west of that province noting all the migrants, as in previous years, and obtaining skins and recording the summer birds of that district. In the spring of 1893 he beganwork on Vancouver island and made collections during the whole season- In 1894 the district around Medicine Hat, Alta., and eastward to Crane lake, Sask., was examined and in 1895 the prairie region south of the Canadian Pacific Railway.. In all these years Mr. Spreadborough worked under the direction of the writer. The summer of 1896 was spent by him on Hudson bay and across Ungava and in 1897 and 1898 he was in the Rocky mountains, in the former year working with the writer south to Crow Nest Pass, in the latter independently in the Yellow Head Pass. In 1900, again with the writer, the collecting season was spent in Algonquin Park, Ont. During 1901, 1902, 1903 and 1905, Mr. Spreadborough was with Mr. J. M. Macoun; rgor was spent in the Coast Range, B.C., chiefly around Chilliwack lake; 1902 between Trail and Cascade on the International Boundary; 1903 in the Peace River region and 1905 again on the International Boundary between Cascade and Chilli- wack lake, thus completing a traverse of the whole region between the Columbia and the western slope of the Coast Range; the country between Chilliwack Lake and Douglas on the Coast was examined in 1906. The year 1904 was, perhaps, the most important of any, as the early spring was spent by Mr. Spreadborough in the vicinity of Fernie and Elko, B.C., thus connecting the work of 1897 with that of 1902, and the early summer and autumn months on the south and west coasts of Hudson bay where he studied the habits vi PREFACE. of the waders and swimmers which frequent that region. The seasons of 1907 and 1908 were spent by him on Vancouver Island. The chief sources from which published observations and notes have been compiled are indicated in a brief and far from complete bibliography. As regards Greenland and Alaska no attempt has been made to utilize all that has been published. It has been thought sufficient to refer to the most important lists and to include all the species known to occur in these regions. It cannot be hoped that no important omissions have been made in the distribution of Canadian birds, but as the authors expect to publish annually an addendum to this catalogue the necessary corrections will be made from time to time and the co-operation of collectors and observers is solicited for this work. In addition to the list of authorities cited, manuscript lists and notes on nesting habits have been furnished the writers by Mr. J. H. Fleming, Toronto, Ont.; Mr. W. E. Saunders, London, Ont.; Mr. Geo. Witte, Ottawa, Ont.; Mr. E. T. Seton, Cos Cob, Conn.; Mr. A. C. Bent, Mr. Walter Raine, Toronto, Ont.; Mr. J. Dippie, Calgary, Alta. ; Mr. Robt. Elliott, Plover Mills, Ont.; Mr. P. A. Taverner, Bracebridge, Ont.; Mr. C. R. Harte, Nova Scotia; Mr. Harold Tufts, Wolfville, N.S.; Rev. C. J. Young, Madoc, Ont.; Rev G. Eifrig, Ottawa, Ont.; Mr. J. Hughes-Samuel, Toronto, Ont.; Mr. W. H. Moore, Scotch Lake, N.B.; Mr. Alfred L. Garneau, Ottawa, Ont.; Mr. A. B. Klugh, Guelph, Ont.; Mr. A. F. Young, Penetanguishene, Ont.; Mr. Norman Criddle, Aweme, Man.; Mr. Geo. A. Atkinson, Portage la Prairie, Man.; Mr. E. F. G. White formerly residing in British Columbia, but now at Ottawa; many members of the Geolo- gical Survey staff and others who have contributed notes or short lists. The whole series of the Transactions of the Natural History Society of Nova Scotia; the Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Bruns- wick; the Canadian Naturalist and Record of Science, Montreal; the Ottawa Naturalist; the Journal of the Canadian Institute, Toronto; the Auk, published in New York and the Wilson Bulletin have been drawn on for notices of rare species and local lists by various contributors. The greater part of the compilation of the new material for this edition of the Catalogue has been done by my assistant Mr. J. M. Macoun. The very complete index was made by Miss Marie C. Stewart. JOHN MACOUN. OTTAWA, 15 October, 1909. LIST OF PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES CITED. Arctic Manual and Instructions for the Arctic Expedition, 1875. Brooks, Allan. Various papers on British Columbia Birds in the Auk and the Ottawa Naturalist. Bigelow, Henry B. Birds of the Northeastern Coast of Labrador, The Auk, vol. xix. Boutelier, Jas. Lists of the Birds of Sable Island in The Ottawa Naturalist. Bent, A. C. Birds of Southwestern Saskatchewan, The Auk, vol. XXV. Bishop, Louis B. Birds of the Yukon Region, N. A. Fauna, No. 19. Chamberlain, Montague. 186 Leucosticte, Aleutian............... 4 Gray-crowned............eceeeee 465 OPOULD 03:8 panes yes 4s ee ee 466 Kadiak. ows 2 omnraaiguges AFaM Ss 465 Lewcostictes: sss cness seam eevee 464 TUCONUCDE cia ces 4 SEE A REE OO 464 JOB ck Shame 2 REA AAS 465 tephrocotis....... 0.0.5... eee eee 465 tephrocotis littoralis.............. 466 Lewis Woodpecker................+ 345 TAPOICOLE 02a oie sie: & ssniai 96 wvgrerncg o mnssinna te $08 157 Limosa... : sees 183 fedoa. 183 hemastica. 184 INDEX. x Exown Grane gull, Long. mate GUrlewis se veaciacs Santer é 198 Dowitcher..is0226¢ snedee ee rasas 166 Marsh Wret....cusk cavers sna aces s 706 Longipennes..........-.0.002seeeee 29 Longspur, Alaskan,.............06+ 486 Chestnut-collared.........-..200+ 489 Smith.. Long-tailed Chatiscataaiaseiad sadnag an 672 Chickadee............000seeeeces 718 Dulelkviss seiiguand sewers sia wasdivese ees 102 IBOBON s cca die saie ig 6 eaten apse tans oe aC 32 Long toed Stintiss wie asker macmenee e's 177 Long-winged Swimmers,............ 29 DOOD siii0 5 as eigit--4 BOSE REO eS STS. 9 Black-throated...........- esse 12 ACIS siapaspows Feersareis ys Benes SHINS 13 Red-throated............0ee eee 13 ee ee semreiatabs ous oy Hauslion ab se ssoaz 11 TIGODB gs wisce'5 vo. 0es A oi sin: Sssieroiah ace: weeaitue 9 Lophodytes. . SRAM eau hiNen ws 16 cucullatus...............c.. cele 76 LophortyXei vis cnet demi eae ae 216 CAlifOTMICUG, eisies caressing aoe a aeons ea 216 Louisiana Tanager..............4-. 564 Water-Thrush..........00-0 sees 663 ORI Be jem sees 6.6 tebe As ore Tes 457 curvirostra Minor.............44- 457 leucoptera....... ec cee eee eee 460 AUN 2 sige Siceths Boe aionaite me andeace ones 1 CIPD ALG: s 6 seicye tid, he acdw yw reas Bees 1 Lutescent Warbler............:.-.. 617 MacFaruane ScrEECH OWL.......... 302 Macrochires...........0000seeeeeee 352 Macrorhamphus...............0005 166 SET ISOU Bie ios dr ake Seen ee meee a 166 scolopaceus..............200 cease 166 Magnolia Warbler.............-.... 637 Magpie, American.................. 401 Magpies -..ocecie os cui e.n oaiswie 24a 401 Mallard icies iczctevs i 5 taco e § earn dae 78 Mandt Guillemot. 23 Man-o’War Birds. 73 Manx Shearwater 63 Marbled Godwit 183 Murrelet. 20 Mareca.... 83 americana, 84 penelope.. 83 Marsh Harrier. 242 awk...... 242 Wert: 4s 51 Martin, Purple.. 566 McCown Longspur. 491 McKay Sno ake 484 Meadow Lark. . BO sade ace avecaves ypc setae ectes sacar savas 300 asio kennicotti...............0005 300 asio macfarlanei................. 302 asio saturatus.................0. 302 Melanerpes........................ 343 erythrocephalus. . Meleagrigiis ci: smias 44 dce tien 6 donk 234 fospiee Silvestris............... 234 Melospiza...... RE Neh asheieca daa plane 537 CINETEA. cece eee scenes Setneiata 542 cinerea caurina, cinerea insi cinerea juddi.... cinerea capensis, re cinerea melodia,............+.00- 53) cinerea Montana. cinerea Morphna.......++-e rece 540 cimerea rufina........ 0.06 cee eee georgiana........ Tim COME. oi osss, 5 c5-sic eee stasecsieie es a yeisoene aoe 543 lincolni striata..............00005 545 Merganser..........- cee eee ene nee 73 ATLOTIGCANUG ass ies a: sh esa one wave 73 serrator..........+. Gc ite davis Soleo mma 75 Merganser... American Hooded wees xe-ger eo stsion'e ssamags Red-breasted Merlin,