EDITOR'S PREFACE. 



Apology is due that portion of the public which may- 

 be interested in "New England Bird Life" for the de- 

 lay which has occurred in the preparation and publica- 

 tion of the concluding volume of this treatise. 



In November, 1880, when, the revision of Mr. Stearns' 

 manuscript having been made through Oscines, the first 

 volume had gone to press, the editor was directed by 

 the War Department to repair to Arizona and take up 

 the routine duties of a medical officer of the army ; and 

 it was several months before he could free himself from 

 this annoyance by resigning his commission. It being 

 clearly impracticable to do any literary or scientific work 

 under such circumstances, preparation of the manuscript 

 for the press was necessarily suspended at the point it 

 had then reached. Proofs of the portion already in the 

 printer's hands having been read by the editor in Ari- 

 zona, Part I., embracing Oscines, was published upon his 

 return to Washington in September, 1881. 



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