CHAPTER V. 
BAY-BIRDS. 
ALTHouGH a cursory account of the various bay-birds, 
their habits and peculiarities, has been given in a 
previous chapter, it seems desirable to add a more 
complete, exhaustive, and specific description. This 
is attempted in the following pages, and although 
the ornithological characteristics are taken from 
Giraud’s Birds of Long Island, which seems to 
have been the resource of all our sporting writers, 
nothing else is derived from him; but the facts are 
stated, either upon personal knowledge, which is 
generally the case, or upon reliable information. 
As to the abundance or scarcity of any particu- 
lar species, the éxperience of sportsmen will differ 
according to the accident of flight, or the locality of 
their favorite sporting-ground ; and in relation to 
their shyness or gentleness, much depends upon the 
time of year and the condition of the weather. In 
consequence of the confusion of nomenclature, it has 
been deemed advisable to give the scientific descrip- 
tion of the common species, each one being placed 
under its most appropriate name, and to collect 
together as many designations as could be found to 
have been applied to them’ respectively. Never- 
theless, many names will no doubt be omitted, and 
