INTRODUCTION. 21 



a different life from what they do now, and built their 

 nests in hollow trees instead of smoke-stacks. The 

 purple martin is not content now unless you build a 

 house for him, and the chances are that you will 

 have no wrens or bluebirds about unless you pro- 

 vide them with suitable nesting quarters. These are 

 all changes brought about since the days of the In- 

 dians, for certainly their mode of life was not one to 

 attract birds, unless it was that the filth about the 

 wigwams attracted insect-life and the birds followed it. 

 Having briefly touched upon some of the more 

 characteristic phases of bird-life in general, with the 

 expression of the hope that this volume may add its 

 mite to the growing disposition to cultivate rather than 

 persecute our feathered friends, let us pass to the 

 consideration of these creatures as we find them, not 

 only in the distant forest, but at our very doors ; in 

 the fields and upon the mountains ; far from all water 

 but the tiniest brook, and treading the sandy beaches 

 or crowding the rocks of the sea-coast 



