VI PREFACE. 



Tlio limitution and the fiumber of Rpocios compelled mo to solect 

 n few from the many, and while the selection has been mndo some- 

 what at random, the species mentioned will fairly represent the 

 various phases of the bird-life of the localities to which the present 

 volume is limited — the fields and groves of the Eastern Provinces. 

 Among the species that have been omitted are many that are well 

 known in all the provinces, such as the chipping sparrow, goldfinch, 

 purple finch, cedar waxwing, cuckoo, phcjubo, gracklo, kingfisher 

 and the woodjieckors. I should have preferred to have added these 

 and others, and was deterred solely by the desire to ninko u small 

 book that could be sold at a small price, and thus be available 

 to a large number of readers who might be prevented from j)ur- 

 chasing a more expensive work. I have consoled myself for the 

 omissioi' by the promise that if the present volume commends 

 itself to the public and is accorded an appreciative welcome 

 another volume shall be prepared at once, for the omitted species 

 will fill a book about the size of the present volume. 



Some species mentioned here are not equally common in all the 

 provinces, but I have intended these books to represent the avian 

 fauna of the provinces as a whole ; and while it may be said in a 

 general way that the same species of birds occur in all suitable 

 localities throughout the settled portion of this eastern division 

 of the Dominion, from the Atlantic shore 'o the eastern border 

 of the prairies— that the birds found in Nova Scotia occur also 

 in Ontario — the statement requires some expiianation. 



The difference in the conditions of climate tnd of environment in 

 the southern peninsula of Ontario to those which obtain in the 

 more northern districts of the country — the diflference between 

 latitude 43° and latitude 48°, or thereabouts, is so great that many 

 of the birds find a suitable breeding place in portions only of the 

 Iffea lying between thei-e parallels, For this reason some species 



