Ill till' matter licrtiii rirordcd account lias of course lacn taken of nearly 

 all thai lias been done by other workers, but the literature of the birds of Wash- 

 injn<"i i> very meaner, bcinj; chiefly conlincd to annotated lists, and the conclusions 

 reached have necessarily been ba>-ed ujjon our own experience, comprising some 

 thirteen years residence in the State in the case of Mr. I'.owles, and a little more 

 in my own. I'icid work has been about ec|ual]y divided between tlic Kast-side 

 and the West-side and we have Ijotii been able to fjive practically all our time to 

 this cause during the nesting seasons of the past four years. Parts of several 

 seasons have been spent in tlie Cascade Mountains, but there remains much to 

 learn of bird-life in the high Cascades, while tlie conditions existing in tlie I'luc 

 Mfiuiitains and in the ( >lympics are still largely to Ijc inferred. Two |)ractically 

 complete surveys were made of island life along the West Coast, in the summers 

 of 1906 and njoj; and we feel that our nesting sea-l)irds at least are fairlv well 

 understood. 



.\ltlio necessarily bulky, these volumes are by no means exhaustive. \o 

 attempt has been made to tell all that is known or may be known of a given 

 species. It has been our constant endeavor, however, to present something like a 

 true proportion of interest as between the birds, to exhibit a species as it appears 

 to a W'ashingtonian. On this account certain prosy fellows have received cxtenderl 

 treatment merely because they are ours and have to be reckoned with: while 

 others, more iiileresting, perhaps, have not been considered at length simply 

 because we are nf)t responsible for them as characteristic birds of W"ashingtoii. 

 In writing, however, two classes of readers have had to be considered. — lirst. the 

 W'asliingtonian who nee<ls to have his interest aroused in the birds of his home 

 State, and second, the serious ornithological student in the East. For the sake 

 fit the former we have introduced some familiar matter from other sources, 

 including a previous work-'' of the author's. and for this we must ask the indulgence 

 of oniitlioliigists. I-'or the sake of the latter we have dilated upon certain jioints 

 not elsewhere covered in the case of certain Western birds. — matters of abun- 

 dance, distribution, sub-specific variety, etc.. of dubious interest to our local 

 patrons; and for this we must in turn ask their indulgence. 



The order of treatment observed in the following ])ages is substantially the 

 reverse of that long followed by the American ( Jrnitlmlogists' I'liion, and is 

 justiliable jirincipally on the ground that it follows a certain onler of interest and 

 convenience, r.eginiiing. as it does, with the sup|U)se<lly highest fonns of bird- 

 life, it brings to the fore the most familiar birds, and avoids that ru<le juxta|x>si- 

 tioii of the lowest form of one grou]) with the highest of the one above it. which 

 has iK'cn the confessed weakness of the A. ( ). I', arrangement. 



The outlines of classitication may be found in the Table of Contents to each 

 volume, and a l)rief synopsis of generic, family, and ordinal characters, in the 



a. The Bird* of Ohio, by William l.ron Dawion, .\. M.. B. D., with IntnxlucliKn ami .Xnalytical Krjrt 



hy I.yndl Jonrs. .M Sr Onr .in, I r>%n \ ,.liin«-., p,. xKmi -.- f,-, Clnnil,,!., Tl.r WliraL.n fuhlilhing 



Company, 1903. 



