AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY The Birds of the AW Siaity of New York City Frank M. Chapman Associate Curator, Department of Mammalogy and Ornithology REPRINTED FROM THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL VOL. VI, Nos. 2 and 3, APRIL and JULY, 1906 Guide Leaflet No. 22
American Museum of Natural History Seventy-seventh Street and Central Park West, New York City OFFICERS President.
Morris K, Jesup First Vice-President Second Vice-President J. PrERPONT MorGAn Henry F. OssBorn Treasurer Secretary CHARLES LANIER J. Hamppen Ross Director Hermon C. BuMpus BOARD OF TRUSTEES CLASS OF 1906 CHARLES LANIER WILLIAM ROCKEFELLER ANSON W. HARD GUSTAV E. KISSEL SETH LOW CLASS OF 1907 D. O. MILLS ALBERT S. BICKMORE ARCHIBALD ROGERS CORNELIUS C. CUYLER ADRIAN ISELIN, Jr.
CLASS OF 1908 H. O. HAVEMEYER FREDERICK E. HYDE A. D. JUILLIARD GEORGE S. BOWDOIN CLEVELAND H. DODGE CLASS OF 1909 MORRIS K. JESUP J. PIERPONT MORGAN JOSEPH H. CHOATE GEORGE G. HAVEN HENRY F. OSBORN CLASS OF 1910 J. HAMPDEN ROBB PERCY (R. PYINE JAMES H. HYDE ARTHUR CURTISS JAMES THE AMERICAN Museum oF Natura History was established in 1869 to promote the Natural Sciences and to diffuse a general knowledge of them among the people, and it is in cordial coéperation with all similar institutions throughout the world. The Museum authorities are dependent upon private subscriptions and the dues from members for procuring needed additions to the collections and for carrying on explorations in America and other parts of the world. The membership fees are, Annual! Members. ....-.-..- $ Io Bellowst.a cnc a t-roemyeice te $ 500 [eifexMemberses.o sete 100 Patrons... oreo erie 1000 All money received from membership fees is used for increasing the collections, and for developing the educational work of the Museum. The Museum is open free to the public on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Admittance is free to Members every day.
goz ‘ON [18H ‘dnoiy MONG YOavVYsV)] 3HL
The Binds of the Vicinity of New York City A Guide to the Local Collection in the Department of Ornith ology By FRANK M. CHAPMAN AssociateCuratorofMammalogyandOrnithology GUIDE LEAFLET No. 22° Reprinted from THe American Museum Journat Volume VI., Nos. 2 and 3, April and July, 1906 NewYork:PublishedbytheMuseum
Guide Leaflet. 303 THIRD,ORGALLERYFLOOR. Key-plan of the Museum building, showing the location of the halls in which CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION Permanent Residents Summer Residents Summer Visitants Winter Residents Winter Visitants : Regular Transient Visitants Irregular Transient Visitants Accidental Visitants THE SEASONAL COLLECTION January Bird-Lite February Bird-Life March Bird-Life April Bird-Life May Bird-Life June Bird-Life July Bird-Life August Bird-Life September Bird-Life October Bird-Life November Bird-Life December Bird-Life ANNOTATED List or LocaL Brrps BiBLioGRAPHY WitH Criticat Notes the specimens and groups may be found to which references are made in this Some of the groups are in Hall No. 208 of the Second Floor, directly under Hall No. 308 of this plan.
THE BIRDS OF THE VICINITY OF NEW YORK CITY.!
By Frank M. CHAPMAN.
Associate Curator of Mammalogy and Ornithology. INTRODUCTION.
The collection which this Guide is intended to accompany has been formed especially to aid students in identifying the birds found in the vicinity of New York City. It occupies a portion of the West Corridor of the third floor (Hall No. 303). With a few exceptions, all t!.2 specimens contained in it were collected within 50 miles of the American Museum of Natural History. The species which we have as yet been unable to secure within these limits are represented temporarily by specimens from the North American Collection. The collection is placed under two heads: first, systematic, containing virtually all the birds which have been recorded from within the prescribed limits, and second, seasonal, in which only the birds of the month are exhibited, as is explained more fully beyond. Species of accidental occurrence, or those which have been found in this vicinity but once or twice, are grouped at the end of the systematic collection. The birds are labeled in accordance with the system of nomenclature adopted by the American Ornithologists’ Union. The number on the label, preceding the name of each species is its number in the Union’s “Check-List’” of North American birds (2nd edition, 1895). In the desk case in the center of the hall will be found a local collection of the nests and eggs of the birds which breed within 50 miles of the Museum. It is labeled on the same plan as the local collection of birds. Near by are placed photographs from nature of the nests of most of our breeding birds and exhibits of bills, feet, wings, tails and feathers designed to explain technical terms used in descriptive ornithology. A list of useful ornithological publications will also be found here. 1ReprintedfromtheAmericanMuseumJournal,Vol.VI,pp.81-102,April,1906. Si) [3]
82 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL The appended annotated list of the species known to occur within a radius of 50 miles of the Museum is based on information derived for the most part from four sources: (1) previously published records; (2) the author’s notes covering a period of twenty years’ intermittent observation, mainly at Englewood, N. J.;°(3) the observations of Mr. Waldron DeWitt Miller at Plainfield, N. J.; and (4) information received from Mr. William Dutcher. For many years Mr. Dutcher has made a specialty of the study of Long Island birds and has brought together a vast amount of data concerning them.
As a matter of local interest an asterisk (*) has been placed before those species which have been observed in Central Park. This list of Park birds is based on published records, the author’s observations and information received from Messrs. C. G. Abbott, S. H. Chubb and B. S. Bowdish.
The text cuts with which this Guide is illustrated, with the exception of the Starling, are from Coues’s “Key to North American Birds.” For their use the Museum is indebted to Messrs. Dana Estes and Company, the publishers of that work. The full page plates are from photographs of Museum exhibits. The region embraced within our limits possesses natural advantages calculated to attract a great number of birds. Our seacoast, with its sandy beaches and shallow bays; our rivers, creeks and ponds, with their surrounding grassy marshes; our wooded hillsides and valleys; our rolling uplands and fertile meadows, offer haunts suited to the wants of most birds. Again, our coastline and the Hudson River valley form natural highways of migration regularly followed by birds in their journeys to and from their summer homes.
The exceptional abundance of birds in this vicinity, however, is not due alone to the varied character of the country, or to the fact that twice each year streams of migrants pass along our coasts and through our valleys. There are certain causes which tend to limit the ranges of animals, chief among which is temperature. A study of the ranges or habitats of animals and plants shows that the boundaries of the areas inhabited by many species coincide with one another and also to a greater or less extent with lines of equal temperature. The ranges of these species being thus governed by natural causes, they are taken as indices of the limits of faunas or natural life-areas. The [4]