PREFACE. 



No group of animals is more important to man than 

 the one comprising the galHnaceous birds — the source 

 from which has been derived the countless varieties of 

 domesticated fowl distributed throughout the world. 



As articles of food they are of inestimable value, and 

 the birds enter largely into the various accounts of trade. 

 But beside the commercial aspect, which is important 

 enough, the species present other attractions that appeal 

 most strongly to those for whom this book was espe- 

 cially written, the sportsmen — viz., the pleasure they 

 yield in the chase, and the incentive they provide for 

 action and effort, when, in the leafy aisles of the whisper- 

 ing forests, or in the thickets, and along the banks of the 

 leaping stream, or on the open sky-encircled prairie, 

 man in his quest for these game-like creatures, aided by 

 his faithful dog, finds renewed health and strength to 

 wrestle with the toils and troubles of his daily life. For 

 accomplishing this result alone, even if in all their life 

 and death they yielded no other, these birds were not 

 created in vain. 



The favorable reception given to my book on the 

 " Shore Birds " has encouraged me to write the life his- 

 tories (as my opportunities have enabled me to become 

 familiar with them) of possibly the most attractive feath- 

 ered creatures, certainly so from the sportsman's point of 

 view, which our country possesses. The water fowl to 

 some may appear more desirable, a few are really game, 

 and I would be the last to speak or write disparagingly 



