14 Bird Comrades 



are fresh in your memory, consult your "key" and make 

 sure, if possible, of the identity of all your " finds." 



Mr. Robert Ridgway, one of the foremost ornitholo- 

 gists of our country, is now preparing a great work 

 which is worthy of the highest praise. It is entitled 

 "The Birds of North and Middle America," and is the 

 most comprehensive work yet undertaken relative to the 

 avifauna of the entire North American Continent, giving 

 a large amount of scientific data respecting all the species. 

 After its completion it will enable the student to identify 

 every bird known to science from the Isthmus of Panama 

 to the far North and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

 At this writing two volumes have been issued. They 

 are published under government auspices by the United 

 States National Museum at Washington, D. C., and may 

 be procured perhaps without cost by writing to the 

 secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Of this the 

 writer cannot be absolutely sure, as the supply of printed 

 copies may be limited. 



Nothing more need be said about bird manuals, save to 

 warn you against spending your money for books which 

 describe only a part of the avifauna of a given region 

 and yet are advertised as serviceable for the identifi- 

 cation of all birds. Unless you have plenty of money 

 to spend, when you buy a manual buy one that is scien- 

 tifically accurate and complete. Nothing is more trying 

 to the student of birds, whether tyro or expert, than to 

 encounter a new bird and then fail to find it described 

 or even mentioned in the book that has been foisted upon 



