PREEACKE: 
Tuis volume has been written to fill a place hitherto vacant 
_in ornithological literature. The works of Wilson,! Audubon,? 
and Nuttall,? are costly, and rarely offered for sale, having 
been in a great measure superseded by modern authors. The 
recent and most complete work on American Ornithology,‘ that 
of Messrs. Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, is also costly. Mr. 
Samuels’ book on the ‘‘Birds of New England and Adjacent 
States” ° has been thought too expensive to be within the reach 
of all, and more or less inaccurate and incomplete. Dr. Coues’ 
admirable ‘* Key to North American Birds,” ® which is probably 
the best book of reference for collectors, and students of inani- 
mate birds, treats merely of structure, classification, and spe- 
cific descriptions. The same author’s ‘“ Field Ornithology,” 7 
and Mr. Maynard’s “ Naturalist’s Guide,’® have also been 
1“ American Ornithology.” Wilson. 9 vols. Philadelphia, 1814. Brought 
down by Ord to 1827. Also 4 volumes by Bonaparte, of the Birds not given by 
Wilson. Philadelphia, 1833. i 
2a, “Ornithological Biography.” Audubon. 1838. b. Enlarged to ‘Birds of 
America” in 1844. 
8“A Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and Canada.” Nuttall. 
1832, 1840. 
4“North American Birds.” Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway. Little, Brown, & 
Co., Boston, 1874. 
5< Birds,” or “Ornithology and Odlogy,” “of New England (and Adjacent 
States).” E.A.Samuels. 1867. 
6* Key to North American Birds,” with a list of fossil birds. Coues. Natural- 
ists’ Agency, Salem, Mass. 
7“ Wield Ornithology,” with “a Check List of North American Birds.”* Coues. 
Naturalists’ Agency, Salem, Mass. 
*The check-list has been published separately. The older Smithsonian list may 
be obtained from the Naturalist’s Agency, Salem, Mass. To the above-mentioned 
books of reference may be added various local catalogues, and the first volume, 
lately published, of ‘‘ Life-histories of the Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania, by 
Thomas G. Gentry.” 
8“ The Naturalist’s Guide,” ‘with a complete catalogue of the birds of Eastern 
Massachusetts,” and notes relative to their migrations, etc. C.J. Maynard. Fields, 
Osgood, & Co., Boston, 1870. 
(vii) 
