Vlll PREFACE. 



of Curator of the Botanic Garden and Lecturer on 

 Natural History at Harvard University. In 1842 he 

 returned to England, where he resided until his death 

 in 1859, at the age of seventy-three. 



The first volume of the " Manual," containing an 

 account of the Land Birds, was published in 1832, and 

 a second edition, with some additional matter, appeared 

 in 1840. The second volume, of which one edition only 

 was issued, came out in 1834. 



The " Manual" was the first hand-book of the subject 

 that had been published, and its delightful sketches of 

 bird-life and its fragrance of the field and forest carried 

 it into immediate favor. But Nuttall was more than a 

 mere lover of Nature, he had considerable scientific at- 

 tainment; and though he appears to have enjoyed the 

 study of bird-life more than he did the musty side of 

 ornithology, with its dried skins and drier technicalities, 

 he had an eye trained for careful observation and a stu- 

 dent's respect for exact statement. It was this rare com- 

 bination that gave to Nuttall's work its real value ; and 

 these chapters of his are still valuable, — much too valu- 

 able to be lost; for if a great advance has been made in 

 the study of scientific ornithology, and of the species 

 that occur in the Western half of the continent, our 

 knowledge of the life-histories of most of the Eastern 

 birds has been advanced but little beyond that left us 

 by Nuttall and his contemporaries. 



I must not however be understood as undervaluing 

 the recent work of the " American School," as they are 

 styled by European writers ; for it may be said, without 

 exaggeration, that the present generation of workers 

 in this field have placed American ornithology quite 



