PREFACE. 



have permitted me to quote from William S. Long'a 

 Softool of the Woods. Also, from the books of Mr. 

 Frank Chapman and Mr. W. E. D. Scott, as well as from 

 the pamphlets of Mr. Ned Dearborn, and Mr. F. E. L. 

 Beal, I have been glad to cull valuable opinions and 

 certain ornithological statistics of indispensable interest. 



I have endeavored to paint the little songster in his 

 true colors, and show him in some one of his character- 

 istic positions, flying or singing. Some of my water- 

 colors are satisfactorily interpreted by the three-color 

 process, and others are not. One must not judge of the 

 color of the bird altogether by his picture. The wonder 

 is, that with limited red, yellow, and blue the plate- 

 maker and printer so nearly approached the model. 

 The pictures of the four Thrushes are well preserved, so 

 are those of the Meadowlark, the Cuckoos, the Purple 

 Finch, the Goldfinch, the Indigo Bunting, and the Red- 

 winged Blackbird. Suffice it to say that when the art- 

 ist gives the printer absolutely nothing but purity and 

 delicacy of color to copy, he imposes upon him a task of 

 no little difficulty, a difficulty for which due allow- 

 ance should be made in an appreciation of the result. 



I do not use such color-terms as rufous, vinaceous, 

 fuscous, and the like, when describing the bird's colors, 

 as it is doubtful whether anybody knows what they 

 mean. Imagine yourself telling the painter to paint 

 your house fuscous, or directing the dress-maker to line 

 your garment with vinaceous! Presumably the orni- 

 thologist and the botanist prefer to use a universal 

 language; it has its advantages, so we will forgive them. 

 Yet it would hit a scientist very hard, I suppose, to sug- 

 gest that he was very unscientific outside of his pro- 

 fession and a trifle medieval! Otherwise s why does he 

 call crimson, purple! In the matter of color and music, 

 therefore, we will be scientific, and when the bird is 

 crimson we will not call him purple, but crimson, and 

 when he sings G sharp we will not hunt around i.oi a 

 syllable to represent it, but put it on the musical staft 

 where it belongs! 



F. SCHUYLER MATHEWS. 



BOSTON, April, 1904. 



xi 



