INTRODUCTION. 



I LOVE all birds, whether they are commonplace 

 or rare, stupid or entertaining, gentle or vicious, 

 large or small. They make alive the earth and the 

 air as does no other class of living creatures. The 

 water may teem with fish, the grass with frogs, the 

 trees with squirrels, the air with butterflies, and yet 

 we may look upon all this with half-hearted interest, 

 if not positive indifference. Any one of these forms 

 of life may command our attention for the time, but 

 we cannot live among them for weeks without weary- 

 ing. It is not so with birds. Whether the fierce 

 eagle that defies the sun or homely sparrow in the 

 weedy hedge, the clamorous gull above the ocean's 

 roar or whistling sand-piper tripping by the brook, 

 alike they draw us to them ; they bid us pause, 

 whatever our occupation at the time ; no rut so 

 deep but they can divert our thoughts from it ; we 

 never tire of listening and looking. Both eye and 

 ear revel in what the wild bird does and says. In a 

 manner, we can comprehend all other forms of life ; 

 the bird is the one great mystery of creation. 



Even those most prominent in our daily walks do 

 not become monotonous. The sparrows that we 



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