PREFACE 



HE actual and urgent need for this book is apparent to the large and steadily 

 increasing number of persons who are intelligently interested in American 

 ornithology. This need is due to the fact that in all the literature of that sub- 

 ject there is no single work which presents a complete review of what is known 

 to-day about American birds. 



The task of preparing a comprehensive account of the bird life of a con- 

 tinent is far too great to be accomplished in a natural lifetime by any indi- 

 vidual working alone; and until recently there has been no systematic 

 cooperation between students of our native birds. It is inevitable, therefore, 

 that continued study of the subject, aided by such cooperation, should have 

 revealed many errors of commission and omission in the labors of Wilson, Audubon, Bona- 

 parte, and the other earlier students of this difficult and complex science. Nevertheless, 

 it is clear that the work of these men laid the foundation of American ornithology ; for their 

 labors not only furnished much material of scientific value, but encouraged interest in and 

 sympathy for birds, and thereby inspired further study of these beautiful and useful forms 

 of animate life. 



The ornithological pioneers mentioned recorded not only technical descriptions of birds, 

 but were at much pains to present observations calculated to give the reader ideas about 

 bird personality. Later writers have confined themselves generally to one or the other of 

 these aspects of bird life — or to regional ornithology'. . Doubtless the development of these 

 two schools has been due to the realization of the enormousness of the task of presenting 

 both technical descriptions, and accurate as well as readable characterizations of the hundreds 

 of species which occur on this continent. In the case of the technical student, however, it 

 discloses also the fact that one who is intent upon gathering purely " scientific " data about 

 birds — that is, statistics and details concerning their size, color, distribution, nidification, 

 and so on — is likely to overlook, or at least to pay little heed to habits or characteristics 

 which have no classificatory value. 



Yet it is these very characteristics, rather than the purely scientific data, which make 

 the strongest appeal to the imagination and the sympathies of the great majority of persons 

 who are interested in birds. Indeed, it may be doubted whether any account of a bird, 

 however accurate and detailed it is in its presentation of merely physical facts, is actually 

 complete if it omits or curtails reference to traits which reveal the human and aesthetic sig- 

 nificance of that bird's natural life. Surely, the cleverness and the fine courage which a 

 mother bird displays in concealing and protecting her eggs, are as significant as are their 

 mere number and color. 



It is the purpose of this work to present accurately and sympathetically both of these 

 phases of bird life, that is, the physical and the moral. The utmost pains have been taken 

 to present a precise description of the external physical appearance of each bird selected 

 for separate treatment. The size of the bird may be considered the basic fact in its identifi- 

 cation, and this is restricted (except in a few instances) to the average length, because that 

 is the dimension most clearly discernible in the living bird. 



The color of the bird is even more important than its size, as a means of identification, 

 and especial care has been taken in this particular. The most accurate and detailed descrip- 

 tions of the coloration of American birds are those which are included in Robert Ridgway's 



[Vll] 



