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Table of Contents

This is the fifteenth in a series of bulletins of the United States National Museum on the life histories of North American birds. Previous numbers have been issued as follows:

107. Life Histories of North American Diving Birds, August 1, 1919.

113. Life Histories of North American Gulls and Terns, August 27, 1921.

121. Life Histories of North American Petrels and Pelicans and Their Allies, October 19, 1922.

126. Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl (part), May 25, 1923.

130. Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl (part), June 27, 1925.

135. Life Histories of North American Marsh Birds, March 11, 1927.

142. Life Histories of North American Shore Birds (pt. 1), December 31, 1927.

146. Life Histories of North American Shore Birds (pt. 2), March 24, 1929.

162. Life Histories of North American Gallinaceous Birds, May 25, 1932.

167. Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey (pt. 1), May 3, 1937.

170. Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey (pt. 2), August 8, 1938.

174. Life Histories of North American Woodpeckers, May 23, 1939.

176. Life Histories of North American Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, Hummingbirds, and Their Allies, July 20, 1940.

179. Life Histories of North American Flycatchers, Larks, Swallows and Their Allies, May 8, 1942.

The same general plan has been followed, as explained in previous bulletins, and the same sources of information have been utilized. The nomenclature of the 1931 check-list of the American Ornithologists’ Union and supplements has been followed.

An attempt has been made to give as full a life history as possible of the best-known subspecies of each species and to avoid duplication by writing briefly of the others and giving only the characters of the subspecies, its range, and any habits peculiar to it. In many cases certain habits, probably common to the species as a whole, have been recorded for only one subspecies. Such habits are mentioned under the subspecies on which the observations were made. The distribution gives the range of the species as a whole, with only rough outlines of the ranges of the subspecies, which in many cases cannot be accurately defined.

The egg dates are the condensed results of a mass of records taken from the data in a large number of the best egg collections in the country, as well as from contributed field notes and from a few published sources. They indicate the dates on which eggs have been actually found in various parts of the country, showing the earliest and latest dates and the limits between which half the dates fall, indicating the height of the season.

The plumages are described in only enough detail to enable the reader to trace the sequence of molts and plumages from birth to maturity and to recognize the birds in the different stages and at the different seasons.

No attempt has been made to describe fully the adult plumages; this has been well done already in the many manuals and State bird books. Partial or complete albinism is liable to occur in almost any species; for this reason, and because it is practically impossible to locate all such cases, it has seemed best not to attempt to treat this subject at all. The names of colors, when in quotation marks, are taken from Ridgway’s Color Standards and Color Nomenclature (1912). In the measurements of eggs, the four extremes are printed in boldface type.

Many who have contributed material for previous volumes have continued to cooperate. Receipt of material from nearly 500 contributors has been acknowledged previously. In addition to these, our thanks are due to the following new contributors: J. R. Arnold, B. W. Baker, E. R. Blake, R. M. Bond, W. P. Bonney, F. W. Braund, N. R. Casillo, A. D. Cruickshank, D. E. Davis, O. E. Devitt, P. F. Eckstorm, J. H. Ennis, H. S. Gilbert, W. E. Griffee, J. G. Griggs, B. E. Harrell, C. F. Holmes, J. S. Y. Hoyt, W. A. Kent, A. J. Kirn, J. M. Linsdale, W. H. Longley, D. D. MacDavid, E. A. Mason, M. L. Miles, A. B. Miller, D. L. Newman, E. P. Odum, F. M. Packard, E. J. Reimann, A. C. Reneau, Jr., H. G. Rodeck, W. F. Smith, M. Sullivan, W. P. Taylor, J. K. Terres, Jr., H. O. Todd, Jr., B. W. Tucker, H. E. Tuttle, H. D. and Ruth Wheeler, and J. B. Young. If any contributor fails to find his or her name in this or in some previous Bulletin, the author would be glad to be advised. As the demand for these volumes is much greater than the supply, the names of those who have not contributed to the work during the previous ten years will be dropped from the author’s mailing list.

Dr. Winsor M. Tyler rendered valuable assistance by reading and indexing, for these groups, a large part of the literature on North American birds, and contributed two complete life histories. Dr. Jean M. Linsdale and B. W. Tucker, of the Department of Zoology, Oxford University, contributed two each; and Edward von S. Dingle, Dr. Alfred O. Gross, and Alexander Sprunt, Jr., contributed one each.

Egg measurements were furnished, especially for this volume, by the American Museum of Natural History, Griffing Bancroft, Herbert W. Brandt, Frank W. Braund, California Academy of Sciences, Colorado Museum of Natural History, Charles E. Doe, Field Museum of Natural History, James R. Gillin, Wilson C. Hanna, Ed. N. Harrison, Turner E. McMullen, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Laurence Stevens, George H. Stuart, 3d, and United States National Museum.

Our thanks are also due to William George F. Harris for many hours of careful work in collecting and figuring the egg measurements and for handling and arranging the vast amount of data used in making up the paragraphs on egg dates. Dr. Eugene E. Murphey did considerable work on one species, and Stephen Waldron helped with typewriting. Through the courtesy of the Fish and Wildlife Service the services of Frederick C. Lincoln were again obtained to compile the distribution and migration paragraphs. The author claims no credit and assumes no responsibility for this part of the work.

The manuscript for this Bulletin was completed in August 1941. Contributions received since then will be acknowledged later. Because of the war, publication was delayed, and in September 1945 the author recalled the manuscript to bring it up to date although only information of great importance could be added. The reader is reminded again that this is a cooperative work; if he fails to find in these volumes anything that he knows about the birds, he can blame himself for not having sent the information to—

The Author.