EDITOR'S PREFACE. 7 



any equal area in the United States, it is nevertheless 

 a fact that we possess no treatise which adequately re- 

 flects our present understanding of the subject. It is 

 the object of the present volume to go carefully over 

 the whole ground, and to present, in concise and con- 

 venient form, an epitome of the Bird-life of New Eng- 

 land. The claims of each species to be considered 

 a member of the New England Fauna are critically 

 examined, and not one is admitted upon insufficient 

 evidence of its occurrence within this area ; the design 

 being to give a thoroughly reliable list of the Birds, 

 with an account of the leading facts in the life-history 

 of each species. The plan of the work includes brief 

 descriptions of the birds themselves, enabling one to 

 identify any specimen he may have in hand ; the local 

 distribution, migration, and relative abundance of every 

 species ; together with as much general information 

 respecting their habits as can conveniently be brought 

 within the compass of a hand-book of New England 

 Ornithology. 



Mr. Stearns undertook this work several years ago, 

 at the writer's suggestion that such a treatise was much 

 to be desired, and could not fail to subserve a useful 

 purpose. Having been diligently revised from time to 

 time, in the light of our steadily increasing knowledge, 

 Mr. Stearns' manuscripts have been submitted to the 



