P K E F A C E 

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My purpose in writing these stories and sketches of birds has 

 been that I might make others acquainted with the ways of some 

 of the wild birds which have been of so much interest to me. 

 Should they serve to give the reader a little more intimate ac- 

 quaintance with our feathered neighbors of the field and woodland, 

 my main object will have been accomplished. 



These stories are not fanciful, but are true to bird life. The 

 Arredondo Sparrow Hawk, Ruffle-Breast and Socrates were particu- 

 lar birds well known to others as to me. In the case of the Bob- 

 white family, and Bib-neck, the Plover, I have combined into the 

 lives of a few birds incidents I have known to occur to many. 

 The accounts of visits to birds' nests, bird colonies and the like 

 are given as they occurred. In the Appendixes some suggestions 

 are offered to the student and the teacher. 



Several of these articles have been printed in the North Caro- 

 lina Journal of Education and elsewhere. One of them, "The 

 Childhood of Bib-Neck," is inserted by the kindness of the St. 

 Nicholas Magazine, 



In the preparation of this book I wish to acknowledge my obli- 

 gations to Mr. Robert L. Ridgway, Curator of Ornithology in the 

 Smithsonian Institute, for his critical reading of the manuscript; 

 to Mr. John L. Ridgway for preparing the excellent designs for the 

 eight full page plates and forty-five of the other illustrations; to 

 Miss Elsie Weatherly for drawing twenty-seven of the text figures; 

 and to a number of other friends who have aided and encouraged 



me in many ways. 



T. GILBERT PEARSON. 



Greensboro, N. C, October 1, 1901. 



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