PREFACE. 



r^HIS is mainly a book about the Birds, or more 



-*- properly an invitation to the study of Ornithology, 



and the purpose of the author will be carried out in 



proportion as it awakens and stimulates the interest of 



the reader in this branch of Natural History. 



Though written less in the spirit of exact science 

 than with the freedom of love and old acquaintance, 

 yet I have in no instance taken liberties with facts, or 

 allowed my imagination to influence me to the extent 

 of giving a false impression or a wrong coloring. I 

 have reapedmy harvest more in the woods than in the 

 study ; what I offer, in fact, is a careful and conscien- 

 tious record of actual observations and experiences, 

 and is true as it stands written, every word of it. But 

 what has interested me most in Ornithology, is the pur- 

 suit, the chase, the discovery j that part of it which is 

 akin to hunting, fishing, and wild sports, and which I 



