PEEFACE. 



The present work is designed to meet the want, which has long been felt, 

 of a descriptive account of the Birds of North America, with notices of their 

 geographical distribution, habits, methods of nesting, character of eggs, their 

 popular nomenclature, and other points connected with their life history. 



For many years past the only systematic treatises bearing upon this sub- 

 ject have been "The American Ornithology" of Alexander Wilson, finished 

 by that author in 1814, and brought down to the date of 1827 by George 

 Ord ; the "Ornithological Biography" of Audubon, bearing date of 1838, with 

 a second edition, " Birds of America," embracing a little more of detail, and 

 completed in 1844; and "A Manual of the Ornithology of the United States 

 and Canada," by Nuttall, of which a iirst edition was published in 1832 and 

 a second in 1840. Since then no work relating to American Ornithology, of 

 a biographical nature, has been presented to the public, with the exception 

 of some of limited extent, such as those of Giraud, on the " Birds of Long 

 Island," in 1844; De Kay's "Birds of New York," 1844; Samuels's "Orni- 

 thology and Oology of New England," 1868, and a few others ; together with 

 ([uite a number of minor papers on the birds of particular localities, of 

 greater or less moment, chiefly published in periodicals and the Proceedings 

 of Societies. The reports of many of the government exploring parties also 

 contain valuable data, especially those of Dr. Newberry, Dr. Heermann, 

 Dr. J. G. Cooper, Dr. Suckley, Dr. Kennerly, and others. 



More recently (in 1870) Professor Whitney, Chief of the Geological Survey 

 of California, has published a very important volume on the ornithology of 

 the entire west coast of North America, written by Dr. J. G. Cooper, and 

 containing much original detail in reference to the habits of the western spe- 

 cies. This is by far the most valuable contribution to the biograpliy of 

 American birds that has appeared since the time of Audubon, and, with its 

 typographical beauty and numerous and excellent illustrations, all on wood 

 and many of them colored, constitutes one of the most noteworthy publica- 

 tions in American Zoology. 



Up to the time of the appearance of tlie work of Audubon, nearly all that 

 Avas known of the great region of the United States west of the Missouri 

 Piiver was the result of the journey of Lewis and Clark up the Missouri and 



