PREFACE 



THIS little book is the outcome of a long experi- 

 ence in teaching college women to study our com- 

 mon birds. It lays claim to no originality in 

 statement, but is a mere compilation which has 

 drawn freely on all available sources. In general 

 it explains itself, but a few preliminary statements 

 may suitably find place here. 



The book, as its name implies, is devoted to the 

 New England birds ; but as these little creatures 

 decline to rule themselves by our geographical 

 lines, nearly, if not quite, all of the forms men- 

 tioned will be found in the Middle States as well. 

 The list does not aim to be a complete one, even 

 for New England. In the interests of clearness 

 and simplicity it omits nearly all those rarer birds 

 which, as experience has shown, the beginner is not 

 likely to encounter ; and, moreover, it includes typi- 

 cal adults alone, omitting (save in the cases of the 

 robin and bluebird) mention of the immature plu- 



