BIRD STUDIES. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



THE object of the treatise herewith presented is to place before students 

 and others who wish to acquire knowledge on the subject, a means to 

 that end. It is an invitation to a more intimate acquaintance with 

 the Land Birds of Eastern North America. That is all. 



By Eastern North America, as applied to the present subject, is meant 

 that portion of the continent east of the Mississippi River, Lake Winnipeg, 

 and the western borders of Hudson's Bay, together with Greenland and the 

 islands which naturally group themselves with the mainland of the region. 



The Land Birds include all birds found in this area, from the Song 

 Birds, beginning with the Bluebirds, to the Gallinaceous Birds, ending with 

 the Common Quail and its allied forms. 



It is the intention of the author and the publishers, if this volume secures 

 for itself an encouraging reception, to follow it with a second, dealing in a 

 similar way with the Water Birds of the same region. 



To point out to a would-be traveller a pleasant itinerary often induces 

 him to take one route in preference to another. For this reason, systematic 

 classification has not been adhered to in the following studies, but they have 

 been made to group themselves about certain localities that are familiar to all. 

 It is believed that a knowledge of the birds nearest to us is the best point of 

 departure, and is less liable to lead to mental confusion, than if all the 

 members of a given systematic group, as for instance all the thrushes, or all 

 the sparrows of the entire region, were to be introduced or placed before the 

 student in a body. 



While it is not an easy task to select, from such a nomadic group as 

 birds, the especial ones belonging to the environs of the house, yet certain 

 kinds have come to associate themselves, on the whole, more with this than 



