PREFACE TO TEACHERS’ APPENDIX. 
Wut the time available for zodlogical studies in 
our schools is too limited to permit of more than the 
treatment in outline of most of the classes of ani- 
mals, the fact is now recognized that birds possess 
unusual claims to our attention. They are practi- 
cally the only ones of the higher animals with which 
we may come in contact daily. Our large mammals 
have either been exterminated or driven from the 
vicinity of our homes, while most of the smaller 
species are nocturnal, and, therefore, rarely seen. 
Reptiles and batrachians are difficult to observe and 
are not popular; while fishes, from the nature of 
their haunts, can be studied only under certain con- 
ditions. Birds, however, are everywhere: in field 
and wood and sky, in our orchards and gardens; 
and some of them are with us at all seasons. 
Bat birds’ merits do not consist merely in their 
abundance. In beauty of plumage, grace of mo- 
tion, and vocal ability they are without rivals; in 
their migration, mating, and nesting habits they 
not only display unusual intelligence, but exhibit 
human traits of character that create within us a 
feeling of kinship with them, and thus increase 
our interest in and love for them. Furthermore, 
as with increasing knowledge we begin to realize 
their economic value, we are more than ever im- 
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