INTRODUCTION. 



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TO describe and illustrate a new means of studying animal behavior, and to record 

 what has been learned by its aid concerning the lives of some of our common 

 birds is the main purpose of this volume. It is a popular study of birds in action 

 and is chiefly concerned with the homes or nests and their occupants. 



While the desire has been present to make these pages readable, no effort has been 

 spared to render them accurate. Many of the observations are new ; nearly all are 

 original, and every statement of fact is believed to be true as it stands. 



The wish to give a human interest to every phase of animal activity is of very ancient 

 origin and has done too much already in spreading the seeds of popular error and super- 

 stition concerning animal life and lore. Animals should be studied as animals which they 

 are, and not as human beings which they have never been and are not likely ever to 

 become. 



The constant reading of human attributes into the activities of animals is to begin at 

 the wrong end, and is a drag on the progress of accurate knowledge. We should first study 

 the animal as far as possible from its own standpoint, and learn with exactness the facts 

 of its life, taking care not to press analogies farther than the observed facts will warrant. 

 Ignorance of anatomy as well as of physiology, and the desire to find in the doings of ani- 

 mals a marvelous counterpart of human powers of intelligence and reason have already 

 stocked our libraries with fables, anecdotes, and stories, many of which make delightful 

 reading, but possess little value for the modern student. 



The first duty of the narrator of natural as well as civil history is to tell the truth, i 

 and to the naturalist belongs also the privilege of showing that the lives of the higher ani- 

 mals, when fully and clearly revealed, possess a more vital interest than the puppet dressed 

 in human clothes, however admirable the latter may be as a work of art. 



I trust that the reader will not misunderstand these remarks. Is it denied that 

 animals possess intelligence or any powers of reason? Not at all! Such questions de- 

 pend largely upon our definitions of words, and without fresh observations are usually 

 fruitless of result. What is criticized is the gross anthropomorphism which characterizes 

 much that is written upon the actions of animals. If I am an offender in this direction, 

 I hope it is only in a minor degree. I am anxious to attribute to the animal every power 

 which it is actually known to possess, and look for the roots of human instinct and intel- 



