INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. xix 



my Illustrations, nor in writing the book now in your hand, al- 

 tliough fully competent for both tasks, but in completing the 

 scientific details, and smoothing down the asperities of my 

 Ornithological Biographies. 



I do not present to you the objects of which my work con- 

 sists in the order adopted by systematic writers. Indeed, I can 

 scarcely believe that yom'self, good-natured reader, could wish 

 that I shoidd do so ; for although you and I, and all the world be- 

 sides, are well aware that a grand connected chain does exist in 

 the Creator's sublime system, the subjects of it have been left at 

 liberty to disperse in quest of the food best adapted for them, 

 or the comforts that have been so abundantly scattered for each 

 of them over the globe, and are not in the habit of following 

 each other, as if marching in regular procession to a funeral or 

 a merry-making. He who woidd wiite a general ornithology 

 of the world, and is possessed of knowledge adequate to such a 

 task, is the only one by whom the ordination of birds could be 

 made tridy useful. When this work is completed, and when 

 the resvdts of my observations have been duly weighed and ar- 

 ranged, 1 shall reduce the whole to an order corresponding with 

 the improvements recently made in ornithological science, and 

 present to you a Synopsis of the Birds of the United States, 

 including the ordinal, generic and specific characters, with the 

 distinctive habits of each species, and references to the descrip- 

 tions of other writers. 



I shall therefore simply offer you the results of my own ob- 

 servation with respect to each of the species, in the order in 

 which I have published the representations of them. Nor do I 

 intend to annoy you with long descriptions, including the num- 

 ber and shape of the feathers, particularly in cases where the 



