A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE VOYAGE. 



I HAVE always 

 been fond of Nat- 

 ural History in gen- 

 eral, but especially 

 of the study of 

 birds, and at every 

 new place that I 

 have visited I have 

 made it a point to 

 look up the birds of 

 the neighborhood 

 on every opportu- 

 nity, to study their 

 habits and to ac- 

 quaint myself with 

 them as thoroughly 

 as possible. As a 

 result of this, it hap- 

 pens that I have 

 seen a large per- 

 centage of our com- 

 moner birds of the 

 Atlantic seaboard, and that, from familiarity with plates, drawings, 

 and descriptions, I can recognize at once nearly every new one that 

 I meet. 



