CHAPTER IV. 



PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR. 



THE popular names that have been given by 

 everybody — which means no responsible body 

 — to our common birds are about as contradictory 

 and misleading as are the sound and spelling of some 

 of our words. There is one prominent group in our 

 avi-fauna that is known collectively as ''flycatchers," 

 and so might be supposed to be experts or profes- 

 sionals in that line ; yet we have catchers of flies 

 that are far more graceful when so engaged and 

 far more sure in their movements ; that do not miss 

 once where flycatchers fail many times. For in- 

 stance, there are the wood-pewee, the pewees of 

 our out-buildings and bridges, and the olive-sided 

 flycatcher that merely passes through the State and 

 summers in New England, — all professionals, so to 

 speak. But what of the vireos, the swallows, and 

 the night-hawks? If we could but gather some 

 statistics we would stand on firmer ground, and in 

 this connection I dare venture one or more assertions 

 — not now ; hereafter. 



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