PREFACE | 
Not to have so much as a bowing acquaintance with the birds 
that nest in our gardens or under the very eaves of our houses; 
that haunt our wood-piles; keep our fruit-trees free from slugs; 
waken us with their songs, and enliven our walks along the road- 
side and through the woods, seems to be, at least, a breach of 
etiquette toward some of our most kindly disposed neighbors. 
Birds of prey, game and water birds are not included in the 
book. The following pages are intended to be nothing more than 
a familiar introduction to the birds that live near us. Even in the 
principal park of a great city like New York, .« bird-lover has found 
more than one hundred and thirty species; as many, probably, 
as could be discovered in the same sized territory anywhere. 
The plan of the book is not a scientific one, if the term scientific 
is understood to mean technical and anatomical. The purpose 
of the writer is to give, in a popular and accessible form, knowledge 
which is accurate and reliable about the life of our common 
birds. This knowledge has not been collected from the stuffed 
carcasses of birds in museums, but gleaned afield. In a word, 
these short narrative descriptions treat of the bird’s characteristics 
of size, color, and flight; its peculiarities of instinct and tempera- 
ment; its nest and home life; its choice of food; its songs; and of the 
season in which we may expect it to play its part in the great 
panorama Nature unfolds with faithful precision year after year. 
They are an attempt to make the bird so live before the reader 
that, when seen out of doors, its recognition shall be instant and 
cordial, like that given to a friend. 
The coloring described in this book is sometimes more vivid 
than that found in the works of some learned authorities whose 
conflicting testimony is often sadly bewildering to the novice. 
In different parts of the country, and at different seasons of the 
year, the plumage of some birds undergoes many changes. The 
reader must remember, therefore, that the specimens examined 
and described were not, as before stated, the faded ones in our 
ee, but live birds in their fresh, spring plumage, studied 
afield. 
The birds have been classed into color groups, in the belief 
that this method, more than any other will make identification 
most easy. The color of the bird is the first, and often the only, 
characteristic noticed. But they have also been classified ac- 
cording to the localities for which they show decided preferences 
