PREFACE. 



MiTcii of tlu' matter containt-cl in the follow ino- paL;'es was written 

 in the field and covers a period of some ten winters in Moritla, a 

 great deal of the time being passed in ont-of-the-wav localities while 

 stndving the fauna of the State. The illustrations are. with few 

 exceptions, from photographs taken by myself: the i:)rincipal ex- 

 ceptions being the jihotographs of the tarpon, which were obtained 

 through the kindness of Mr. George Mixter, of Iioston. The picture 

 of the manatee and the illustrations in the '' Key to the Water I^iirds "' 

 are the work of Mr. Edwartl Knobel, of Jjoston. 



The nomenclature and classification used in the Key is that 

 adopted by the American Ornithologists' Union. 



I have aimed to make the " Key to the Water IJirds " one 

 which would enable a person unfamiliar with bii-ds to identify any 

 Florida species without dil]lcult\-. Before using the ke\- the reader 

 should carefully read the '* Introtluclion to the Ke\- " and make him- 

 self familiar with the terms used in describing birds : the general 

 rules for measurements, etc. 



With few exceptions, the spe(.-ies given ha\e been taken or ob- 

 served by myself during m^' \arious trips to i'dorida, but se\eral are 

 included on the autliorit\' of others, and I ha\e freely availed nnself 

 of information obtained from the following works and papers: — 



" History of North American Birds, " by Baird, lirewer, and 

 Ridgway : "Manual of North American Birds," b\' Robert Ridg- 

 way : " Ke\' to North American Birds."" b\' Elliot Cones: " Birds of 

 Eastern North America."" b\' C J. ATaNuard : " Handbook of the lairds 

 of Eastern North America.'" b\' F. M. Chapman : '* Notes on the 

 Birds of the Caloosahatchee Region of Florida,"" b\ W. K. D. Scott 

 (Auk \^ol. IN., pp. 209-2 iS). 



