INTRODUCTION 

 I 



TO describe and illustrate a new means of studying animal 

 behavior, and to record what has been learned by its aid 

 concerning the strenuous life of the wild bird, are the main pur- 

 poses of this volume. It is a popular study of birds in action 

 and is chiefly concerned with the homes or nests and their 

 occupants. 



While the desire has been present to make these pages read- 

 able, no effort has been spared to render them accurate. Many 

 of the observations are new; nearly all are original, and every 

 statement of fact is believed to be true as it stands. 



The wish to give a human interest to every phase of animal 

 activity is of very ancient origin and has done too much already 

 in spreading the seeds of popular error and superstition concern- 

 ing animal life and lore. Animals should be studied as animals 

 which they are, and not as human beings which they have never 

 been and are not likely ever to become. 



The constant reading of human attributes into the activities 

 of animals is to begin at the wrong end, and is a drag on the 

 progress of accurate knowledge. We should first study the 

 animal as far as possible from its own standpoint, and learn with 

 exactness the facts of its life, taking care not to press analogies 

 farther than the observed facts will warrant. Ignorance of 

 anatomy as well as of physiology, and the desire to find in the 

 doings of animals a marvelous counterpart of human powers of 

 intelligence and reason, have already stocked our libraries with 

 fables, anecdotes, and stories, which make pleasant reading, but 

 possess little value for the modern student. 



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