PRE FACE. 



TiiK pre^jent work is designeil to meet tlie want, which has \o\\*^ ])een felt, 

 of a descriptive account of the lUrd.s of North America, with notices of tlieir 

 geograpliical distribution, liabits, methods of nesting, cliaracter of eggs, their 

 popuhir nomenclature, and other ])oints connected witli their life history. 



For many years past the only systematic treatises l)earing upon this sub- 

 ject have been "The American Ornithology" of Alexander Wilson, tinislied 

 bv that autlior in 1814, and brought down to the date of 1827 by CJeorire 

 Ord ; the "Ornithological Biography" of Audubon, bearing date of 18;>8, with 

 a second edition, " liirds of America," embmcing a little more of detail, and 

 comi»leted in 1844; and "A Manual of the Ornithology of the United States 

 and Canada," by Xuttall, of which a first edition was published in 181)2 and 

 a second in 1840. Since then no work relating to American Ornitludogy, of 

 a biographical nature, has been presented to the public, with the exception 

 of some of limited extent, such as those of Oiraud, on the "Birds of Long 

 Island," in 1844; De Kay's "Birds of Xew York," 1844; Samuels's "Orni- 

 thology and Oology of Xew England," 1868, and a few others ; together with 

 (|uite a nundier of minor papers on the birds of particular localities, of 

 greater or less moment, chiefly published in periodicals and the Proceedings 

 of Societies. The reports of many of the government exploring ])arties also 

 contain valuable data, especially those of Dr. Xewl terry. Dr. Heermanu, 

 Dr. J. O. Oooper, Dr. Suckley, Dr. Kennerly, and others. 



More recently (in 1870) Professor Whitney, Chief of the (Jeological Survey 

 of California, lias pul)lished a very important volume on the ornithology of 

 the entire west coast of Xorth America, written by Dr. J. G. Cooper, and 

 containing nmch original detail in reference to the habits of the western spe- 

 cies. This is In' far the most valuable contribution to the biograjjhy of 

 American birds that has ap]K^ared since the time of Audubon, and, with its 

 typogi'aphical beauty and numerous and excellent illustrations, all on wood 

 and many of them colored, constitutes one of the most noteworthy publica- 

 tions in American Zoidogy. 



Up to the time of the appearance of the work of Audubon, nearly all that 

 was known of the sreat re^jion of the United States west of tlie Missouri 

 liiver was the result of the journey of Lev.is and Clark up liie Missouri and 



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