PREFACE 9 



experienced field ornithologists, who are just as competent 

 to judge the writer's records as he is to judge theirs. He has 

 had the privilege of too many years' companionship with 

 them not to be perfectly clear on this point. However, no 

 sight record for a rare or exceptional occurrence has been 

 included, unless specimens of the same species have previously 

 been taken locally. No rare or exceptional record has been 

 included, no matter by whom made, unless the circumstances 

 of the observation and the full details are personally known 

 to me. Several such, here omitted, are unquestionably 

 reliable. In every case sight records of rare species are clearly 

 indicated as such, and the observer or observers are duly 

 credited. It will be noted that many sight records published 

 elsewhere are not mentioned here. This must be taken to 

 mean that either I regard them as unsatisfactory or the 

 observer as unreliable, and that omission of such a record 

 indicates my doubt of its validity. In a few cases I have 

 reported rather than recorded an observation, with or without 

 comment. This means that I lack the necessary knowledge 

 to vouch for it, but have no grounds for regarding it as un- 

 reliable. Records included without comment I vouch for as 

 accurate, in so far as this is possible in any line of human 

 endeavor. 



In any area where ornithological research has extended 

 over many decades, and in which many ornithologists and 

 bird students have worked, it is impossible for any one in- 

 dividual to write an adequate account of the bird life, based 

 on the published records and his personal field experience. 

 'No one in a life time can hope to have the experience of 

 several generations. Nor in any one generation can the 

 experience of one individual equal that of many others. Even 

 when information has been collected from all available 

 sources, it should be remembered that an absolutely complete 

 account of our local birds is impossible. The most important 

 reason is the fact that our knowledge of the bird-life of the 



