PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



Cubing the eiglit years which have passed since the first edition 

 of this -work was published the number of active ornithologists in the 

 United States has greatly increased, and through their united research 

 in the exploration of new or imperfectly worked fields and the careful 

 revision of particular genera our knowledge of North American birds 

 has been materially extended, thus rendering a new and carefully 

 revised edition extremely desirable. It is well known that few, if any, 

 books are quite free from typographical and other errors, due to various 

 exigencies, avoidable and otherwise. Such imperfections of the first 

 edition have been located, largely by friends and correspondents who 

 have detected them in their practical use of the book, and have all, 

 so far as they have been discovered, been corrected. 



Of the ninety-one species and subspecies which have been added 

 to the North American fauna since 1887, twelve were fortunately 

 included in the analytical " keys," and it has therefore been necessary 

 in their case only to change the typography of the names and prefix 

 the catalogue number of the Americai^^ Ornithologists' Union's 

 " Check List of North American Birds." The remainder are given in 

 regular order in the Appendix (pages 583-614), marginal reference 

 numbers in the body of the work at once directing attention to the 

 supplementary matter. 



Some complaint has been made tliat in the original edition no 

 directions were given for using the " keys." This omission was not an 

 oversight, such directions being deemed unnecessary because it was 

 supposed the plan of the keys was so simple as to be self-explanatory. 



