viii INTRODUCTION. 



valuable information, and many interesting specimens of birds 

 and eggs, for which I am indebted to the Rev. John Bach- 

 man, Dr Richard Harlan, Dr George Parkman, Ed- 

 ward Harris, Esq. and others. 



The number of new species described in the present volume 

 is not great. Among them, however, you Avill find the largest 

 true Heron hitherto discovered in the United States. I have 

 corrected some errors committed by authors, and have added to 

 our Fauna several species which, although described by Euro- 

 pean writers, had not been observed in America. The habits 

 of many species previously unknown have also been given in 

 detail. 



Having long ago observed, in works on the Birds of the 

 United States, the omission of the females and the different ap- 

 pearances produced by the change of season in most water birds, 

 I have represented the male accompanied by his mate, and, in 

 as many instances as possible, the young also. The technical 

 descriptions have been given at greater length than in the for- 

 mer volumes, with the view of preventing error even in com- 

 paring dried skins with either the figures or the descriptions. 

 I have also given the average measurement of the eggs, which 

 I regret I had omitted to do in the other volumes ; an error 

 which I purpose to atone for by presenting you, in the last 

 number of my Illustrations, with figures of all those which I 

 have collected. 



The figures in the third volume of my Illustrations amount 

 to one hundred and eighty-two, and are thus much fewer than 

 those in either of the preceding volumes. This, however, 

 was rendered necessary by the comparatively large size of the 

 originals, the aquatic species of Birds greatly exceeding the 



