PREFACE TO POPULAR COLORED 

 EDITION. 



WITHOUT question the simplest and most certain way 

 in which to become acquainted with our birds is to exam- 

 ine the bird itself. Unfortunately for the student, wild 

 birds seem averse to this proceeding, while comparatively 

 few people have access to an ornithological collection. 

 For purposes of identification, therefore, the best substi- 

 tute for the bird is an accurate plate which shall ade- 

 quately portray both the form and color of its subject. 



The fact that Mr. Thompson Seton's drawings in the 

 uncolored edition of "Bird-Life" have been conceded to 

 excel in truth and beauty any series of black-and-white 

 bird portraits ever published in this country gives reason, 

 therefore, for the belief that bird lovers will doubly wel- 

 come a work in which our commoner birds are repre- 

 sented not only in natural attitudes, but in natural colors 

 as well. Photographic bromide copies of the original 

 " Bird-Life " drawings have been colored by an expert 

 under the author's supervision, and are here reproduced 

 by lithography. 



In selecting the one hundred species to be figured in 

 this book it has been deemed advisable to omit those, 



