INTRODUCTION 



geologist, in order to glorify and become enthusiastic on 

 the beauties and magnitude of a towering obsidian or 

 basaltic uplift. Most of our real pleasures come through 

 the special senses of sight and hearing, and not through a 

 knowledge of their source based on prior conception. 



While the minute anatomy of birds, in relation to 

 osteology, muscular distribution and function, is of much 

 scientific interest and practical value to the serious bird 

 student, it is not at all necessary to one who enjoys ob- 

 serving the home life of birds, and coming into actual 

 contact with them in their freedom. The dissecting knife 

 and the laboratory are of inestimable value to science, 

 and may be compared to the pick and chemistry in the 

 study of the geology of a vast mountain range ; yet, with- 

 out all this knowledge, the surface beauties of high alti- 

 tudes, rugged precipices and unharnessed waterfalls may 

 be photographed, and their beauties accurately portrayed, 

 so that those who cannot visit the scenes may witness 

 them in fancy. 



I do not wish to be understood as placing a stamp of 

 depreciation upon the serious and scientific study of 

 ornithology, botany or geology ; it is a noble work and is 

 the prime essential along all lines of investigation. Those 

 who engage in it are the trail-blazers and pioneers. Few 

 persons have the time or inclination to pursue so diffi- 

 cult a task. Too much praise and credit cannot be given 

 such workers as Chapman, Reed, Forbush, Job, Findley, 

 T. Gilbert Pearson and many others. 



One cannot come in intimate contact with birds, and 

 study them, without becoming broader in his knowledge 

 of trees, vines, flowers, soil, insects and many other 

 allied subjects. To the busy man, a trip into the field, 

 bird-hunting with pen and camera, will give a vacation; 

 to the man who has nothing to do, it will give pleasant 

 occupation. 



Rather than go afield with a gun, collecting hundreds 

 of specimens, I am content to view the fruits of the 

 labor of the scientists who delve into osteology and 

 minute measurements of the toes and other anatomical 

 features of birds. As a rule the general reader is not so 

 much interested in the number of bones in the head as 

 in the color and general exterior appearance of a bird, 



