PREFACE. 



CO LEARN to call a bird by its right name is the first step in the 

 study of ornithology. We may propose to investigate the structure, 

 food, and habits of the birds of the world, or desire merely a super- 

 ficial knowledge of the species found in our garden, but in either case we are 

 at once confronted by this question of identification. 



From the scientific point of view there is but one satisfactory way to 

 identify a bird. A specimen of it should be in hand in order that its form, 

 color, and size may be accurately determined, when, with the aid of analytical 

 keys, with which most text-books are provided, it is a simple matter to ascer- 

 tain the bird's name. 



Wide experience has shown the writer, however, that where one dead bird 

 is identified, hundreds of attempts are made to name the living bird in nature. 

 This is to be expected. It is the natural outcome of the recent remarkable 

 interest in the study of birds which, fostered by Audubon Societies and 

 nature study teachers, has assumed an ethical and educational imi:>ortance of 

 the first magnitude. 



We cannot place a gun in the hands of these thousands of bird-lovers 

 whom we are yearly developing; indeed most of them would refuse to use it. 

 Specimens, therefore, are rarely available to them and we should make some 

 special effort to meet their peculiar wants. The present volume has been 

 prepared with this end in view. Identification of the bird in the bush is its 

 sole end; an end, however, which we trust will prove but the beginning 

 of a new and potent interest in nature. 



Frank M. Chapman 

 American Miiseum of Natural History, 

 New York City, 1903. 



