2 INTRODUCTION. 



and minute description of tlie form, and feathers, absolutely necessary. 

 This would, in the opinion of some, be like introducing a gentleman to 



company, with " ladies and gentlemen, Mr. . He has on a blue 



coat — white pantaloons — hussar boots," &c., &c., while a single glance of 

 eye, over the person himself, told us all this before the orator had time 

 to open his mouth ; so infinitely more rapidly do ideas reach us through 

 the medium of the eye, than by that of the ear. But as time may prey 

 on the best of colors, what is necessary in this respect will by no means 

 be omitted, that the figures and descriptions may mutually corroborate 

 each other. It is also my design to enter more largely than usual into 

 the manners and disposition of each respective species ; to become, as it 

 were, their faithful biographer, and to delineate their various peculiari- 

 ties, in character, song, building, economy, &c., as far as my own obser- 

 vations have extended, or the kindness of others may furnish me with 

 materials. 



The Ornithology of the United States exhibits a rich display of the 

 most splendid colors, from the green, silky, gold-bespangled down of 

 the minute Humming-bird, scarce three inches in extent, to the black 

 coppery wings of the gloomy Condor, of sixteen feet, who sometimes 

 visits our northern regions — a numerous and powerful band of songsters, 

 that for sweetness, variety, and melody, are surpassed by no country on 

 earth — an ever-changing scene of migration, from torrid to temperate 

 and from northern to southern regions, in quest of suitable seasons, 

 food, and climate ; and such an amazing diversity in habit, economy, 

 form, disposition and faculties, so uniformly hereditary in each species, 

 and so completely adequate to their peculiar wants and convenience, as 

 to overwhelm us with astonishment at the power, wisdom and beneficence 

 of the Creator ! 



In proportion as we become acquainted with these particulars, our 

 visits to, and residence in the country, become more and more agreeable. 

 Formerly, on such occasions, we found ourselves in solitude, or with 

 respect to the feathered tribes, as if it were in a strange country, where 

 the manners, language and faces of all were either totally overlooked, 

 or utterly unknown to us : now, we find ourselves among interesting and 

 well-known neighbors and acquaintance ; and, in the notes of every 

 songster, recognise with satisfaction the voice of an old friend and com- 

 panion. A study thus tending to multiply our enjoyments at so cheap 

 a rate, and to lead us, by such pleasing gradations, to the contemplation 

 and worship of the Great First Cause, the Father and Preserver of all, 

 can neither be idle nor useless, but is worthy of rational beings, and 

 doubtless agreeable to the Deity. 



In order to attain a more perfect knowledge of birds, naturalists have 

 divided them into orders, genera, species, and varieties ; but in doing 

 this, scarcely two have agreed on the same mode of arrangement, and 



