mvself and the junior author, Mr. j. 11. Bowles. Each of us liad loug had in 

 mind the thouglit of ])repariu<; a wurk u])()n the Inrds of Washington: lint '\\r. 

 Bowles, during' my residence in L)liio, was the hrst to undertake the task, and 

 had a book actually half written when I returned to the scene with friendly 

 overtures. Since mv plans were rather more extended than his. and since it was 

 necessar}' that one of us should devote his entire time to the work. Air. Bowles, 

 with unbounded generosity, placed the result of his labors at my disposal and 

 declared his willingness to further the enterprise under my lcadershi]i in every 

 ]50ssible way. Except, therefore, in the case of signed articles from his pen, and 

 in most of the unsigned articles on Grouse and Ducks, where our work has been 

 a strict collaboration, the actual writing of the book has fallen to mv lot. In 

 practice, therefore, I have found myself under every degree of indebtedness to 

 Mr. Bowles, according as my own materials were abundant or meager, or as his 

 information or mine was umre ])ertinent in a given case. 



Mr. Bowles has been as good as his word in the matter of cooperation, and 

 has lavished his time in the (|uest of new species, or in the discovery of new nests, 

 or in the location of choice subjects for the camera, solely that the l)(jok might 

 profit thereby. In several cxiieditions he has accompanied me. On this account, 

 therefore, the text in its pronouns. "I." "we." or "he." bears witness to a sort 

 of sliding scale of intimacy, which, unless ex]i!ained, might be puzzling to the 

 casual reader. I am especially indebted to Mr. Bowles for extended material upon 

 the nesting of the birds; and mv onlv regret is that the varying refiuirements of 

 the task so often compelled me to condense his excellent sketches into the meager 

 sentences which appear under the head "Nesting." Not infrequently, however, I 

 have thrown a few adjectives into Mr. Bowles's jiaragraphs and incorporated 

 them without distinguishing comment, in expectation that cmr ji)int indebtedness 

 will hardly excite the curiosity of any disengaged "higher critic" of ornithology. 

 Let me, then, express mv very deep gratitude to Mr. Bowles for his generosity 

 and mv sincere appreciation of his abilities so imperfectly exhibite<l, I fear, in 

 the following pages, where I have necessarily usiu'ped the opjiortunity. 



It is matter of regret to the author that the size of these volumes, now 

 considerably in excess of that originally contemplated, has precluded the possi- 

 liilitv of an extended physical and climatic surve}- of \\'ashingt<in. The striking 

 dissimilaritv of conditions which obtain as between the eastern side of the State 

 and the western are familiar'tn its citizens and may be easily inferred by others 

 from a perusal o{ the f(_illowing pages. Our State is excelled by none in its 

 divcrsit\' of climatic and physiographic features. The ornithologist, therefore, 

 may indulge his proclivities in half a dozen different biril-worlds without once 

 leaving our borders. Especiallv might the taxonomist, the subspecies-hunter, revel 

 in the minute shades of tliffercnce in plumage which characterize the representa- 

 tives of the same species as they appear in different sections of our State. We 

 have not gone into these matters verv carefully, because our interests are rather 



