I^PvPlFACE, 



Till-: present Mork is designed to meet tlie want, wliicl. Ims lo:.o- heen felt 

 nia descii].tive aeeuiuit ot tl,e IJirds .,rX„rt]i America, with notices oi'tlieir 

 ovo-rapliical distrihution, l.ul.ils, nu-tlHuis of nesliiin- character of e.-s their 

 popidar nomenclature, and oilier points C(.nnected with their life histi.ry 



I'or many years past the only systematic treatises heaiin- upon this' suh- 

 ject have been " Tiie American ()rnithoh)uy - of Alexan.ler AVilson finished 

 hy that author in ISU, and la'onnht (h.wn to the date of I8i'7 1,y (leor^e 

 Ord; the "Ornithological l',i..graphy - of Auduhon, bearin- date of LS.'iS wiUi 

 a second edition," liirds ul' America," embracing a little more of detail and 

 completed m 1S44; and "A Manual of the Ornithology of the Tnit...! States 

 and eanada," by Xuttall, of which a first edition was laiblish.Ml in 18:!-> and 

 a second m 184U. Since then no work relating to American Ornitholony of 

 a biographical nature, has been presented to the public, with the exception 

 ot s(Mne of limited extent, such as those of fiirand, on the "J'.irds of Lnu" 

 Island," in 1.S44; De Kay's " I'.irds of Xew York," 1,S44; Samuels's "Orni" 

 thology and Oblogy of Xew England,- I. SOS, ,nid a few others ; together with 

 (piite a nunil)er of minor i)apers on the l,irds of particular localities, of 

 greater or less moment, chiefly laiblished in periodicals and the Proceedings 

 of Societies. The reports of many of the government exploring j.arties also 

 contain valuable data, especially those of Dr. Xewberry, Dr. Jleermaim, 

 I>r. J. (). (Vioper, Dr. Suckley. Dr. Kennerly, and others. 



Mow recenHy (in 1 STO) Professor ^A'hitney, Chief of the ( ieological Survey 

 nf California, has published a very im])ortant volume on the oriiitholoay of 

 th(! entire west coast of Xorth America, written by Dr. .7. (1. Cooper, and 

 containing much original detail in reference to the habits of the western' si)e- 

 oies. This is by far the most valuable contribution to the biograjihy of 

 American birds that has appeared since the time of Audubon, and, with its 

 t,vpogra])hical beauty and numerous and excclhuit illustrations, all on wood 

 and many of them colored, constitutes one of the most noteworthy j.ublica- 

 tions in American /oiilogv. 



V]> to the time of tlie appearance of the M'ork of .\udubon, uenrlv all that 

 was known of th.- -reat ivgion of the Cnited States west of the 'Missouri 

 b'lver was the result of the journey of Lewis aii.l Clark up the Mi.ssouri and 



