FIELD KEY TO THE LAND BIRDS. 
THE object of this field book is to enable any lover of 
birds, without previous knowledge or study of the subject, 
to identify readily any of our wild birds. 
As a bird rarely remains long in one spot, it is neces- 
sary to be able to handle the book quickly. Therefore 
the student is requested to familarize himself with its 
simple plan before attempting to use it in the field. 
Scientifically, birds are classified according to their feet 
and bills, which are too small and obscure to serve for 
the identification of birds in the field; but their size, 
shape, color, markings, habits, and sometimes their calls 
can be easily observed. For this reason families have 
been somewhat broken up in arranging the plates, though 
in the text the usual classification has been followed. 
In the arrangement of the plates the plan has been to 
group the birds according to their size. On Plates I. 
and II. are all our birds the size of a common crow or 
larger; on Plates III. and IV. the birds about the size 
of the robin, blue jay, or pigeon. On Plates V., VI., and 
VII. are all the birds about the size of a sparrow — on 
Plate V. those with gay plumage, on Plate VI. those not 
speckled, and on Plate VII. those which are speckled and 
brown. On Plates VIII. and IX. are all the birds 
smaller than a sparrow, like the warblers and wrens. Ail 
the birds on each plate are drawn in the same proportion, 
but the large birds on Plates I. and II. are of course 
drawn on a much smaller scale than those on Plates III. 
and IV., and these latter on a correspondingly smaller 
scale-tham those ‘on Plates V;,. VI., and VIL. 
On each plate those birds which resemble each other 
