PREFACE. 



Love of the birds is a natural passion and cme whicli rL'(|nin.-s nL-itlu-r 

 analysis nor defense. The hirds live, we live; and life is suftieienl answer nnlo 

 life. I'liit lunnaniix', unforlnnateK'. has had nntil recently other less jnstifiablc 

 interest.s — that of lighting ])rc-eniinent among them — so that ont of a gory past 

 onl)- a few shadowy name.s of bird-lovers emerge, Aristotle, Pliny the Elder. 

 /Elian, Ornithologv' as a science is modern, at best not over two centuries and 

 a half old, while as a popnlar pnrsuit its age is Ijctter reckoned by decades, it is, 

 therefore, highly gratifying to those who feel this primal instinct strongly to be 

 able to note the rising tide of interest in their favorite study. Ornithology has 

 received unwonted attention of late, not only in scientific works but also in 

 po])ular literature, and it has taken at last a deserved place upon the cnrricnluni 

 of many of our colleges and secondary schools. 



We of the West are just waking, not too tardily we hope, to a realization of 

 our priceless heritage of friendship in the birds. Our homesteads have been 

 chosen and our rights to theiu established: now we are looking about us to take 

 account of our situation, to see whether indeed the lines have fallen unto us in 

 pleasant places, and to reckon up the forces which make for happiness, welfare, 

 and peace. .And not the least of our resources we find to be the birds of Washing- 

 ton, They are here as economic allies, to bear their part in the disii-ibution of 

 plant life, and to wage with us unceasing warfare against insect and rodent foes, 

 which would threaten the beneficence of that life. They are here, some of them, 

 to supply our larder and to furnish occupation for us in the predatory mood. 

 But above all, they are here to add zest to the enjoyment of life itself; to please 

 the eye by a display of graceful form and picjuant color; t(> stir the dc]iths of 

 human emotion with their marvelous gift of song; to tease the imagination by 

 their cvhibitions of flight; or to goad aspiration as they seek in their migrations 

 the mysterious, alluring and ever insatiable Beyond, Indeed, it is scarcely too 

 much to say that w'e may learn from the birds manners which will correct our 

 own; that is, stimulate us to the full realization in om* own lives of that ethical 

 program which their tenrler domestic relations so clearly foreshadow. 



