vi INTRODUCTION 
attention, unfavorable environment, or otherwise, have 
been unable to acquire that knowledge of this book 
essential to a correct understanding of their relation 
to animated nature. 
Such a help is this httle volume, which it is hoped 
may prove useful and instructive to many whose knowl- 
edge of bird life is small, and also be well worth a read- 
ing by those whose more extended opportunities have 
permitted a wider knowledge of ornithology. 
WILLIAM PALMER. 
NATIONAL MUSEUM, 
WASHINGTON, D.C. 
