A List of External Parasites from Birds of the Eastern Part of the United States

Abstract

DURING the past eight years a special study has been made of the distribution of the various external parasites found on the birds of the United States. Most of the material has been collected by the members of our staff, although many records have been sent to us by bird-banders, naturalists, and other persons interested in the subject. A number of very interesting records have been found, and many new host and distribution records have been accumulated. Most of the records obtained have been from birds in the States east of the Mississippi River. In order to make these data available to other workers this paper has been prepared. There are here recorded 198 different species of external parasites from 255 species and subspecies of wild birds from various States east of the Mississippi River during the years from 1928 to 1935 inclusive. The external parasites considered here are the Mallophaga or biting lice, the Hippoboscidae or bird-flies, the mites, and the ticks. Only records from the files of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine are included, no attempt having been made to complete the list by compiling records from other collections or published data. Previous lists of Mallophaga have been published which may be consulted for additional data (see list of references). Owing to the large number of birds listed and the limits of time and space, it was necessary to confine the distribution data to the States in which each species of parasite was collected. I want to take this opportunity to thank the many persons who have sent material to us for helping to gather the information here presented. I wish also to acknowledge the valuable assistance of the specialists who identified the material recorded in this list. The flies were determined by the late Dr. J. M. Aldrich of the United States National Museum and by Dr. J. Bequaert of Harvard University Medical School, the mites by Dr. H. E. Ewing of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, and the ticks by Dr. F. C. Bishopp and Mr. C. N. Smith of the same bureau. The Mallophaga were all determined by the author. There are some birds from which few kinds of parasites have been obtained. Other birds were found to harbor many species; such were the Bob-white, Song Sparrow, and Robin, from each of which fifteen species of parasites are listed. There are some species of birds found in the region considered in this paper from which no parasites