PREFACE. 



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

 iarity with them will be of value long after school days 



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 ojjening 

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

 Nature 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 

 l^atience and enthusiasm. 



Frank M. Chapman. 



American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York city, January, 1897. 



