PREFACE. 



So many good and useful books about birds have been wriUan 

 and published, that the author of a new book should present an 

 explanation for its api)earance. 



My explanation is that no book has been issued that entirely 

 suits the purpose for which the present volume is hitended — a book 

 that can be sold at a low price, and that will give accurate informa- 

 tion about the habits and distri])ution of Canadian birds, as well 

 as descrii)tion8 of their plumage, and give this information in 

 untechnical terms. In other words, there is a demand for a small, 

 cheap book, treating of our birds in a popular style. This demand 

 comes from the general public, but comes especially from Teachers 

 who ask for a book that can be used as a supplementary Reailer, to 

 assist them in interesting their pupils in birds and familiarizing 

 them with the species most frequently met with in country rand^les. 



I have attempted to meet this demand, but feel constrained to 

 warn readers against expectmg too much from a work that is 

 cramped by such limitations. The space is too small to contain 

 even a short history of all the birds found in the Dominion, for there 

 are too many, over 550 species. The birds of one Province ahme are 

 too numerous for a book oi this size. Mr. Mcllwraith, in his 

 "Birds of Ontario," enumerates 317 species, and about 300 species 

 have been found in New Brunswick. These figures include, of 

 course, the very rare birds, and those that are merely " accidental 

 stragglers," but with these left out the number is still too large 

 for a small book. 



