Preface v 



included both in the group of "birds with spotted 

 breasts," and in that of " birds with unspotted 

 breasts." 



The student may occasionally be puzzled by 

 finding, after one description of a bird in the key, 

 the words " either sex," and after another descrip- 

 tion of the same bird the word " female." In some 

 cases, as, for example, the pine warbler, the females 

 vary widely, sometimes quite closely resembling 

 the male, sometimes being decidedly unlike them. 

 Hence two descriptions of a female are necessary. 



This little book will have failed of its purpose if 

 it does not stimulate a desire for larger and better 

 bird biographies. Occasional articles have been 

 mentioned in the body of the text. I add here an 

 annotated list of ornithologies which treat of New 

 England birds. 



1. AUDUBON. Birds of North America. This is 

 one of the three great ornithologies of the early 

 part of the century, and is by far the greatest. 

 It is a large and expensive book, and is now rare. 

 It is devoted mainly to accounts of habits, and is 

 illustrated by colored plates, which, in the folio 

 edition, are exquisitely true both in form and color- 

 ing. The arrangement, and in a few cases the 

 names of the birds, are unlike those now adopted. 



