A HANDBOOK OF THE 

 BIRDS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 



INTRODUCTION. 



CHAPTER I. 

 THE STUDY OF ORNITHOLOGY. 



BIRDS, because of their beauty, the charm of their songs, and the 

 ease with which they may be observed, are doubtless the forms of 

 animal life which first attract the young naturalist's attention. His 

 interest in them gives evidence of an inborn love of Nature. Too 

 often this priceless gift is lost simply through lack of encouragement 

 and instruction. Properly developed it should prove a never-failing 

 source of pleasure and inspiration, if indeed its influence does not 

 become the most potent factor in our lives. 



Let us hope that the day is not distant when the importance of in- 

 troducing natural-history studies into our schools will be generally 

 recognized. The young student of Nature will then be helped over 

 the repelling technicalities which render so difficult the first steps to 

 a knowledge of his chosen subject. Without a guide he now either 

 loses his way completely or travels under disadvantages which handi- 

 cap him for the whole journey. 



The uninstructed beginner in ornithology usually expends his en- 

 ergies in forming a collection, and he knows no better way of pursuing 

 his study of birds than to kill and stuff them ! Collecting specimens 

 is a step in the scientific study of birds, but ornithology would have 

 small claim to our consideration if its possibilities ended here. Prop- 

 erly considered, it includes what may be termed the science of orni- 

 thology and the sentiment of ornithology. As a science it treats of 

 birds as the exponents of natural laws and seeks to determine their 

 place in the scale of life. In the sentiment of ornithology Nature ap- 

 peals to us through the most interesting and beautiful of her animate 

 forms. 



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