PEEFACE. 



THIS 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 reaped my harvest more in the woods than in 

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

 scientious record of actual observations and experi- 

 ences, and is true as it stands written, every word of 

 'it. /But what has interested me most in Ornithology \ 

 is the pursuit, the chase, the discovery ; that part of 

 it which is akin to hunting, fishing, and wild sports, 

 and which I could carry with me in my eye and ear 

 wherever I went . 



