INTRODUCTION. 21 
a different life from what they do now, and built their 
nests in hollow trees instead of smoke-stacks. The 
purple martin is not content now unless you build a 
house for him, and the chances are that you will 
have no wrens or bluebirds about unless you pro- 
vide them with suitable nesting quarters. These are 
all changes brought about since the days of the In- 
dians, for certainly their mode of life was not one to 
attract birds, unless it was that the filth about the 
wigwams attracted insect-life and the birds followed it. 
Having briefly touched upon some of the more 
characteristic phases of bird-life in general, with the 
expression of the hope that this volume may add its 
mite to the growing disposition to cultivate rather than 
persecute our feathered friends, let us pass to the 
consideration of these creatures as we find them, not 
only in the distant forest, but at our very doors; in 
the fields and upon the mountains ; far from all water 
but the tiniest brook, and treading the sandy beaches 
or crowding the rocks of the sea-coast. 
