BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION 



TO KNOW the birds intimately, to interpret their 

 lives in all their varied conditions, one must 

 get close to them. For the purpose of accom- 

 plishing this object the author of this volume has gone 

 to their haunts day after day and watched them per- 

 sistently at not a little cost of time, effort, and money. 

 While the limits of a single volume do not permit him 

 to present 'all of his observations, it is hoped that those 

 here offered will be satisfactory as far as they go, and 

 that the reader will be able to glean from these pages 

 some new as well as interesting facts relative to bird life. 

 The writer has had another purpose in view in pre- 

 paring this book : He wishes to inspire others, especially 

 the young, to use their eyes and ears in the study of 

 the enchanting volume of Nature. This object, he 

 believes, will be best accomplished by furnishing con- 

 crete examples of what may ,be achieved by earnest 

 research. For purposes of stimulus an ounce of example 

 is worth a pound of precept. If another sees you and 

 me doing a thing joyfully, earnestly, we need scarcely 

 say to him, "Go thou and do likewise." 



There is not much in the book that is technical, yet 

 it aims at scientific accuracy in all of its statements, no 



