PREFACE ^i** '710LQ9Y 



, F.oljo wing the well; known motto of the author, "A good illustration is worth 

 pages of -text/ \ you : ; w'tU B find that nearly all the birds mentioned in this book are 

 shown by small but, nevertheless quite correct pen and ink drawings. These 

 drawings 01 course do tjht, neither are they intended to compare with the colored 

 ones used in "Bird Guide" and other books by the author, yet they do show the 

 markings of birds as they are, as well as forms and attitudes and these features 

 are sufficient to identify nearly all species. The student is supposed to have 

 more complete works with colored illustrations in his library for home use, while 

 this little volume is to be taken into the field for identification and as a handy note 

 book. For this reason it has been so designed that it can be sold for the price of 

 a good note book while it is hoped that the descriptive and pictorial features will 

 make its value to the student many times that of blank pieces of paper. 



The numbers and technical names are those adopted by the American Orni- 

 thologist's Union. The length of each species follows its technical name. 



