Introduction 



and desires fuller and more detailed information than a small volume such as the present 

 one can supply. 



The birds which have come under the author's own observation, and whose habits 

 are here recorded, were seen on Long Island, near Flushing, and at various points upon 

 the Hudson River between New York City and Peekskill ; and in this connection it must 

 be borne in mind that birds' habits vary greatly in different localities, so that absolute 

 conformity to customs mentioned here must not in other places be invariably expected. 

 Thus, to mention a single example, birds which, in one part of the country, nest upon the 

 ground, may, in another part, be found building in trees. 



Until a comparatively recent date, no universally accepted system of bird nomen- 

 clature has been in vogue. Naturalists have, perhaps, not always been wise in the names 

 they have bestowed upon the several varieties, and their successors have not hesitated to 

 christen again and again according to their supposed better judgment or knowledge. 

 It therefore came to pass that a bird could have several scientific, that is, Latin names, 

 and it was even necessary in some instances, when making use of one of them, to append 

 the name of the man who had applied it, to indicate with certainty what bird was meant. 



