iv PREFACE. 



study, but are always about us, and even a slight famil- 

 iarity with them will be of value long after school days 

 are over. 



Popular interest must precede the desire for purely 

 technical knowledge. The following pages are not ad- 

 dressed to past masters in ornithology, but to those who 

 desire a general knowledge of bird- life and some ac- 

 quaintance with our commoner birds. The opening 

 chapters of this book briefly define the bird, its place in 

 Natm-e and its relation to man, and outline the leading 

 facts in its life-history. The concluding chapters pre- 

 sent the portraits, names, and addresses of upward of one 

 hundred familiar birds of eastern North America, with 

 such information concerning their comings and goings 

 as will lead, I trust, to their being found at home. 



After this introduction the student may be left on 

 the threshold, with the assurance that his entrance to the 

 innermost circles of bird-life depends entirely on his own 

 patience and enthusiasm. 



Frank M. Chapman. 



American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York city, January, 1897. 



