PREFACE. 



Unavoidable circumstances have delayed the completion of this 

 volume until the present time. 



Part I, issued in 1901, included the Famil}^ Fringillida? (Finches) 

 alone. Part II, issued in 1902, included the Families Tanagridjp, 

 (Tanao-ers), Icterid* (Troupials), Coerebida? (Honey Creepers), and 

 Mniotiltidai (Wood Warblers). Part III, published in 1904, included 

 the Motacillidse (Wagtails and Pipits), Hirundinidas (Swallows), Am- 

 pelid?e (Waxwings), Ptilogonatidte (Silky Flycatchers), Dulidfe (Palm 

 Chats), Vireonidje (Vireos), Laniidse (Shrikes), Corvid^ (Crows and 

 Jays), Paridee (Titmice), Sittidse (Nuthatches), Certhiidaj (Creepers), 

 Troglodytidas (Wrens), Cinclidaj (Dippers), Chamteidaj (Wren-Tits), 

 and Sylviidte (Warblers). The present volume comprises the Turdidaj 

 (Thrushes), Zeledoniidse (Wren-Thrushes), Mimidse (Mockingbirds), 

 SturnidiB (Starlings), Ploceidie (Weaver Birds), Alaudidas (Larks), 

 OxyruncidjB (Sharp-bills), Tyrannidte (Tyrant Flycatchers), Pipridte 

 (Manakins), and Cotingidee (Chatterers). Part V, which is partly 

 done, includes the FormicariidiB (Ant Birds), Dendrocolaptid* (Wood- 

 Hewers), Furnariidte (Oven Birds-), Pteroptochidte (Tapacolas), Tro- 

 chilidge (Humming Birds), Micropodidte (Swifts), Caprimulgid^e 

 (Goatsuckers), and Picidse (Woodpeckers). 



In the four volumes published there have been described 1,675 

 species and subspecies, or somewhat more than half the total number 

 of North and Middle American Birds. 



Acknowledgments are due for the loan of specimens used in the 

 preparation of this volume to those individuals and public institutions 

 mentioned in preceding volumes; also to the Carnegie Museum, of 

 Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (through Mr. W. E. Clyde Todd, in charge 

 of the bird collection); the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cam- 

 bridge, Massachusetts (through Mr. William Brewster); Dr. Louis B. 

 Bishop, of New Haven, Connecticut; Mr. J. H. Fleming, of Toronto, 

 Canada, and Mr. Arthur T. Wayne, of Mount Pleasant, South Caro- 

 lina. The specimens from the Carnegie Museum were especially help- 

 ful, consisting of tine series of beautifully prepared specimens, mostly 

 from Costa Rica. 



It is a great pleasure to the author to have this opportunit}^ of 

 expressing his obligations foi- the privilege of studying the very com- 



