PUBLISHERS' NOTE 



JOHN BURROUGHS'S first book, "Wake- 

 Robin," contained a chapter entitled " The In- 

 vitation." It was an invitation to the study of 

 birds. He has reiterated it, implicitly if not ex- 

 plicitly, in most of the books he has published 

 since then, and many of his readers have joy- 

 fully accepted it. Indeed, such an invitation 

 from Mr. Burroughs is the best possible intro- 

 duction to the birds of our Northeastern States, 

 and it is likewise an introduction to some very 

 good reading. To convey this invitation to a 

 wider circle of young readers the most interest- 

 ing bird stories in Mr. Burroughs's books have 

 been gathered into a single volume. A chapter 

 is given to each species of bird, and the chapters 

 are arranged in a sort of chronological order, 

 according to the time of the bird's arrival in the 

 spring, the nesting time, or the season when for 

 some other reason the species is particularly con- 

 spicuous. In taking the stories out of their orig- 

 inal setting a few slight verbal alterations have 

 been necessary here and there, but these have 

 been made either by Mr. Burroughs himself or 

 with his approval. 



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