INTRODUCTORY. 



The sketches of bird manners and customs 

 in this little collection are the record of careful 

 observation, and scrupulously true in every par- 

 ticular. The facts may not all be new to Science, 

 but since they are genuine studies from life, and 

 each bird whose acquaintance I make is as truly 

 a discovery to me as if he were totally unknown 

 to the world, I venture to hope that lovers of 

 birds may find in these pages real, live, individu- 

 als in feathers, honestly " brothers of ours." 



OLIVE THORNE MILLER. 



