Vlll PREFACE . 



I am well aware that this last word will receive a 

 sniff from some very worthy men, — especially among 

 those whose gravity in things ornithological is far be- 

 yond their years, — who preach (and unfortunately 

 practise) that scientific writings should eschew all 

 effort to be readable, improving in proportion to their 

 dulness. Perhaps they would not assert it in phrases 

 quite so cold-blooded, but I do not misstate the ten- 

 dency. 



To me this seems a sad and mischievous view. 

 Science is not the things or facts themselves, but 

 our knowledge of them. This knowledge comes to 

 one or two by personal observation and experiment : 

 to all the rest of us it must come by reading. The 

 observer's object in writing his account of any single 

 fact noted, or series of researches, is, that people 

 may read it, but no one will care to do so if it is not 

 agreeably written, and his object will thus be de- 

 feated ; or, if the narrative is perused at all, it will 

 be with fatigue and blunted interest prejudicing the 

 mind most unfavorablv. 



