INTRODUCTION. 



When I came to Oregon in the spring of 1 899 

 from the North Atlantic States, I was greatly 

 delighted at the strange and beautiful songs of 

 some of the birds which, from the morning of 

 my arrival, greeted my ear. Afterward, as I set 

 about studying and naming these new songsters, 

 I encountered an unaccustomed difficulty. There 

 are numerous short, simple and helpful books for 

 eastern North America, by the aid of which a 

 resident of that section may begin to know the 

 birds of his own locality. But I found, upon in- 

 quiry, that there were none especially for this part 

 of the United States. The only helps were in 

 the large scientific works of Ridgway, Coues, 

 and others, covering the whole or large parts of 

 the United States — and these were to be had 

 only in a public library, and when in hand were 

 not easy of use. I have, therefore, made slow 

 headway in the study of the birds of Oregon. 



