yj INTRODUCTION. 



explicit in assigning names to individual localities, but I believe 

 that upon a more mature consideration they will thank me for 

 avoiding the temptation to smooth my text by generalizations. 

 I regret that from one cause and another I have not been able 

 to be thus explicit in all cases. 



The principal reasons for this multiplication of names are 

 obvious, viz. : differences in size, shape, and color between males 

 and females ; periodical changes in plumage ; mistaking one 

 variety for another ; and, more particularly, differences of opin- 

 ion as to the names most appropriate. 



Many of those English names which perhaps we all ought to 

 adopt, such as " Hooded Merganser," " Hudsonian Godwit," 

 "Bartramian Sandpiper," "Pectoral Sandpiper," etc., are used 

 about as little by the inhabitants of the United States generally 

 as the strictly scientific names ; while certain appellations given 

 in our later and best ornithological works, as common among 

 gunners, are quoted from bird-books belonging to a period when 

 popular names were to some extent different from those of to- 

 day. But, though 



"Use may revive the obsoletest word, 

 And banish those that now are most ill vogue," 



our gunners have, as a rule, proved themselves a very conserva- 

 tive class, continuing the bird names of their forefathers persist- 

 ently, despite the teachings and sneers of scientists and book- 

 learned sportsmen. Many of these names, probably, appear now 

 for the first time in print, yet few are of recent origin ; and 

 though some may be a little time-worn, they are time-honored, 

 and as familiar in certain localities as " cow," " dog," and " cat." 

 I would remind any who may think it unwise, or idle, to record 

 provincialisms so simple and apparently unmeaning as some of 

 these, that such a view of the subject is itself a provincialism 

 most unreasonable. Names which appear to us absurdly gro- 

 tesque and outlandish are mediums of communication between 

 men as wise as ourselves, though educated in a different school, 

 and the homely nomenclature of those who shoot, not alone for 



