PLAN OF THE WORK 



Introduction. The Introduction to the present edition of the 

 "Handbook" is wholly new, and rg designed to meet the wants of a 

 class of bird-students which was almost unknown when the first edition 

 of the ' 'Handbook" was written. Field work in eastern North America 

 then meant chiefly collecting. Now it means chiefly observing. The 

 observation blind, the camera, the note-book to record prolonged, con- 

 secutive, definitely directed studies, were then used rarely, if at all. 

 Now they form part of the equipment of all serious students of birds 

 in nature, and it is to them that this Introduction is addressed. 



Nomenclature. The nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' 

 Union's ' 'Check-List of North American Birds" (third edition, 1910) has 

 been adopted. The number preceding the name of each species is its 

 permanent number in the Union's ' 'Check-List." 



Through an oversight, trinomials were not employed in the "Check- 

 List" for certain races, of which only the one first described occurs in 

 North America, and such species are here entered under their proper 

 trinomial designation. 



I have not, however, followed this plan for species of wholly acci- 

 dental occurrence, with which a re-examination of the specimen or 

 specimens on which the records are based might be essential to their 

 correct subspecific determination. 



With the object of encouraging uniformity in the use of common or 

 vernacular names of our birds, I have given in the body of the book 

 only one such name for each species that adopted for it in the "Check- 

 List" of the American Ornithologists' Union. Other common names, 

 which have been or are in more or less general use, are given in the 

 index, with a cross reference to the name with which they are syn- 

 onymous. 



In some instances, I have taken the common names of the earlier, 

 rather than of the last, edition of the "Check-List," in which abbre- 

 viations have been made with consequent loss of definiteness. Exam- 

 ples are "Scaup," "Scoter," "Crossbill," and other instances where two or 

 more species, having the same general name, are found in the same 

 locality. In such cases, it is evident that, to avoid ambiguity, each one 

 should have some qualifying title. 



Definition of Terms. The accompanying figure, with its named 

 parts, will explain the meaning of the terms used in the following 

 descriptions of birds. The words upperparts and underparts, mentioned 

 so frequently, refer respectively to the whole upper or under surfaces 

 of the body of the bird, from the base of the bill to the root of the tail, 

 but are not applied to either wings or tail. 



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