PREFACE. 



Love (if the birds is a natural |)assion and one which rcc|iiires neither 

 analysis nor defense. The birds live, we hve : and Hfe is sufficient answer unto 

 Hfe. But humanity, unfortunately, has had until recently other less justifiable 

 interests — that of fighting pre-eminent among them — so that out of a gory past 

 only a few shadowy names of bird-lovers emerge, Aristotle, Pliny the Elder, 

 .Iilian. Ornithology as a science is modern, at best not over two centuries and 

 a half old, while as a popular pursuit its age is better reckoned by decades. It is, 

 therefore, higlil}- gratifying to those wdio feel this primal instinct stronglv to be 

 able to note the rising tide of interest in their favorite study. Ornithology has 

 received unwonted attention of late, not only in scientific works but also in 

 popular literature, and it has taken at last a deserved place upon the curriculum 

 of many of our colleges and secondary schools. 



We of the ^^'est are just waking, not too tardily we hope, to a realization of 

 our priceless heritage of friendship in the birds. Our homesteads have been 

 chosen and our rights to them established : now we are looking about us to take 

 account of our situation, to see whether indeed the lines have fallen unto us in 

 pleasant places, and to reckon up the forces which make for happiness, welfare, 

 and peace. And not the least of our resources we find to be the birds of \\'ashing- 

 ton. They are here as economic allies, to bear their part in the distribution of 

 plant life, and to wage with us unceasing warfare against insect and rodent foes, 

 which would threaten the beneficence of that life. They are here, some of them, 

 to supply our larder and to furnish occupation for us in the predatory mood. 

 But above all, they are here to add zest to the enjoyment of life itself: to please 

 (the eye by a dis])lay of graceful form and piquant color : to stir the depths of 

 human emotion with their marvelous gift of song; to tease the imagination by 

 their exhibitions of flight ; or to goad aspiration as they seek in their migrations 

 the mysterious, alluring and ever insatiable Beyond. Indeed, it is scarcely too 

 much to say that we may learn from the birds manners which will correct our 

 own ; that is, stimulate us to the full realization in our own lives of that ethical 

 program which their tender domestic relations so clearlv foreshadow. 



