PREFACE. 



During the winter of 1871, when the author was in Southern Florida, he decided to 

 write a work upon the birds which occurred in that state. Arrangements for publishing 

 such a book were made with the Naturalists' Agency at Salem during the following sum- 

 mer and a prospectus containing several pages taken from the body of the work, accompa- 

 nied by an uncolored plate, was prepared; but, owing to the absence of the author who 

 was again in Florida, these advance sheets did not appear until April, 1872, and in October 

 of that year, the first part of THE BIRDS OF FLORIDA was issued. During the following 

 year, Part II was published. In January, 1874, the author assumed the financial responsi- 

 bility of publishing the work and brought out Part III. Owing to several causes, the 

 publication of the book was then discontinued until May, 1878, when a new issue was 

 commenced by the publishers of the present work but with a change of title which then 

 read THE BIRDS OF FLORIDA WITH THE WATER AND GAME BIRDS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA, 

 and six additional numbers were brought out ending with Part IX which appeared in 

 March, 1870. It was then decided to abandon the publication of the work. 



In June, 1879, the publication of THE BIRDS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA was com- 

 menced. This work is remodeled on the old "Birds of Florida" but, as it includes all the 

 birds which occur between the Arctic Circle and Gulf the of Mexico, east of the Mississippi 

 River, its scope is very much enlarged. An entirely new edition of plates has been pre- 

 pared for this book, all of which have been drawn on stone by the author. Some few 

 changes have been made in the text but, as it has not been thought expedient to repage 

 the hook, the reader will find that the first 128 pages treat, with some few exceptions, 

 solely of the birds which occur in Florida, but descriptions of the few which . have been 

 omitted are to be found in the appendix. Some species which are only stragglers in the 

 region of which I write which are not given in their proper places, are also described in 

 that portion of the work; therefore it will be well for the reader to consult the index when 

 he wishes to find the account of any particular species. 



Although the classification given is based upon one now used by nearly all systematic 

 ornithologists, I have made some changes, in doing which I have been mainly guided by 

 my anatomical researches. Nearly all of the characters used are illustrated by drawings 

 which are explained, either in the text or under their proper headings in the list of plates. 

 All the figures given, unless so stated, are life-sized. 



In giving the common names of birds, I have endeavored to use the one by which the 

 species is generally distinguished but an extended list of local and popular names by which 

 each species is known, is given in a table near the end of the volume. 



The scientific names are those in current usage but I have purposely omitted some spe- 

 cific appellations which Dr. Elliott Coues and others have shown to be now necessary in order 



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