INTRODUCTION 



BY 



W. Percival Westeix, F.Iy.S. 



Author of M Every Boy's Book of Geology," 

 "The Boy's Own Nature Book," Etc., Etc. 



EVER since the dawn of civilisation, mankind has 

 evinced keen interest in birds, and the reasons 

 for this are not far to seek. Their winning ways, 

 wonderful minstrelsy, remarkable attire, cleverly con- 

 structed homesteads, beautifully coloured eggs, devotion 

 to their young, and last, but by no means least, their 

 value in the economy of life, all tend to show why our 

 feathered friends have made such an irresistible appeal to 

 both town and country dwellers everywhere. Of more 

 recent years, their wonderful migration movements 

 have interested, nay fascinated, those of us who so lovingly 

 tread the byways of Birdland in a manner never before 

 made possible in the history of the world. To the 

 sportsman, bird dealer, and plume hunter, these feathered 

 bipeds have also made an undoubted claim, but a rabid 

 sentimentalist such as myself has no patience what- 

 soever, and no place within his ken, for such as these. 

 Gene Stratton-Porter's sentiments coincide with mine 

 in this connection. Give me my ears and eyes, aided 

 for preference, by a pair of good field glasses, and I am 

 content to watch and listen, to observe and notify, 

 rather than to capture, maim, or slaughter these bright 

 winsome creatures, whose right it is to share with 

 ourselves the beneficence of the sunshine and the 

 glorious in-breathing of the air. 



I make no idle boast of the belief I hold that every 

 created thing serves some good purpose to the great 

 scheme of life, and it is only the poverty of our knowledge 



