nivself and the junior author. Mr. j. II. Howies. F.aoli of us had Ion" had in 

 mind the thought of ]>rei)ariniL; a work upon the birds of Washington; hut Mr. 

 Bowles, during ni\- resideui-e in ( )hio, was the first to undertake the task, and 

 had a book actualK' half wriiu-n when 1 returned to the seene with friendly 

 overtures. Since \uv ]ilans were rather more extended than his. and sinee it was 

 necessary that one of us shoulil devote his entire time to the work, Mr. Howies, 

 with unbounded generosity, iilaeed the result of his labors at my disijosal and 

 declared his willingness to further the enterprise under my leadershi]) in every 

 ])ossible way. Except, therefore, in the case of signed articles from his pen. and 

 in most of the unsigned articles on Grouse and Ducks, where our work has been 

 a strict collaboration, the ;ietnal writing of the book has fallen to my lot. In 

 practice, therefore. 1 lia\e found myself under every degree of indebtedness to 

 Mr. Rowles, according as my own materials were abundant or meager, or as his 

 information or mine was more pertinent in a given case. 



Mr. Howies has been as good as his word in the matter of cooperation, and 

 has lavishe<l his lime in the ipiest of new species, or in the discovery of new nests, 

 or in the location of choice subjects for the camera, solely that the book might 

 profit thereb\-. In several exjieditions he has accompanied me. ( )n this account, 

 therefore, the text in its |ir(jnonn>. "t." "we." or "he." bears witness to a sort 

 of sliding scale iif intimac\'. which, unless e.xplained. might be puzzling to the 

 casual reader. 1 am es])eciall\- indebted to Mr. Howies for extended material upon 

 the nesting of the birds: and my only regret is that the varying rec|uii-enients of 

 the task so often com])ellcd me to condense his excellent sketches into the meager 

 sentences which api)ear under the hea<l "Xesting." Xot infre(|uently. bowexer, T 

 have thrown a few adjectives into Mr. Howles'> paragraphs and incorporated 

 them witlioul distinguishing comment, in expectation that our joint indebtedness 

 will liardly excite the curiosity of any disengaged "higher critic" of ornithology. 

 Let me. tiien. exjiress my very deep gratitude to Mr. Bowles for his generosity 

 and inv sincere api)rcciation of his abilities so imperfectly exhibited. I fear, in 

 the following i)ages. where 1 have necessarily usurped the opportunity. 



It is matter of regret to the author that the size of these volumes, now 

 considerably in excess of that originall\- contemplated, has precluded the jiossi- 

 bility of an extended physical and climatic snrvev of Washington. The striking 

 dissimilarity of conditions which obtain as between the eastern side of the State 

 and the western are familiar to its citizens and may be easily inferred by others 

 from a jierusal of the following pages. Our State is excCTled liy none in its 

 diversity of climatic and physiograjjliic features. The ornithologist, therefore, 

 may indulge his ])roclivities in half a dozen dififerent bird-worlds without once 

 leaving our borders. Especially might the taxonomist, the subspecies-hunter, revel 

 in the minute shades of difference in ])lumage which characterize the re])resenia- 

 livcs of the same sjiecics as they a|)])ear in difterenl sections of our Slate. We 

 have not gone into these matters verv carefullv. because our interests are rather 



