CONTENTS 



PAGE 



HISTORICAL REVIEW ix 



LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xii 



PLAN OF THE WORK xiii 



INTRODUCTION ......... 1 



CHAPTER I. WHY WE SHOULD STUDY BIRDS ... 1 



CHAPTER II. A WORD TO THE BEGINNER 3 



Finding and Naming Birds . . . . . .3 



The Equipment of the Field Student .... 9 



Collecting Birds, Their Nests and Eggs . . . .15 



American Ornithological Societies . . . . .23 



Current Ornithological Magazines . . . . .24 



CHAPTER III. THE STUDY OF BIRDS IN NATURE . . .26 



The Distribution of Birds 27 



The Migration of Birds 32 



The Voice of Birds 60 



The Nesting Season 66 



The Plumage of Birds 84 



The Food of Birds 98 



General Activities of the Adult Bird . . . .103 



THE BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA EAST OF THE NINE- 

 TIETH MERIDIAN 118 



KEY TO ORDERS AND FAMILIES . . . . . .118 



FIELD KEY TO LAND BIRDS . . . . . .133 



I. ORDER PYGOPODES: Diving Birds .... 138 



1. Family Colymbidae: Grebes . . . .138 



2. Family Gaviidse: Loons 142 



3. Family Alcidae: Auks, Murres, and Puffins . 145 



(xxi) 



