xii EDITOR'S PREFACE. 



peculiar freshness, that marked naivete, that subtle personal 

 flavor, which, as already pointed out, are obviously among its 

 chief attractions. 



In revising a text-book on natural history for a new edi- 

 tion it is customary to omit positive blunders, to recast or 

 rewrite partially erroneous or misleading passages, and to 

 pad more or less liberally with fresh material. But Mr. 

 Minot's work is not a mere text-book, and it has seemed to 

 me that treatment of the kind just indicated would scarcely 

 add to its intrinsic value and usefulness. It was not, when it 

 first appeared, either a comprehensive or an exhaustive trea- 

 tise, and to attempt to make it so now, when the sum of know- 

 ledge of New England ornithology is at least fourfold what 

 it was in 1877, would tend to obscure, if not to destroy, the 

 original character of the book, besides swelling its bulk to 

 far beyond the limits of desirability. 



Hence my editorial touches have been of the lightest. 

 They are intended, not to bring the subject down to date, 

 but merely to help the reader to approach the book from 

 the standpoint of the present day, and to use it intelligently 

 in connection with more modern works. In other words, 

 I have assumed that the "Land-Birds and Game-Birds" 

 may be safely trusted to stand, as it has so long stood, on its 

 own merits. 



Everything that I have personally contributed, excepting 

 the list of added species in the new Appendix, appears in 

 the form of foot-notes signed by my initials, all the unsigned 

 foot-notes having been taken from the first edition. It will 

 be noticed that some of my paragraphs relating to distribution 

 do not differ in substance from Mr. Minot's ; but most of the 

 latter are so inadequate (they habitually refer only to Mas- 

 sachusetts and in some instances exclusively to " near Boston") 

 that it has seemed best to supply a full set of independent 

 notes on this important branch of the subject. These notes 

 are of necessity brief, but it is hoped that they will give a 

 sufficiently clear and definite account of the general range 

 of each species in New England and the seasons at which it 

 may be found in the different States. 



