INTRODUCTORY NOTE 



The first volume of this work was communicated for pubHcation in 

 1908 and was distributed to the people of this State and to the general 

 scientific public in 19 10. It was the expectation that volume i would be 

 immediately followed by another volume which would afford descriptive 

 accounts, with necessary illustrations, of the land birds of New York, but 

 this purpose has been obstructed by the regrettable illness of the author. 

 Students of the birds interested in this work will, therefore, understand 

 the reason for the apparent long delay in the completion of this under- 

 taking. With the presentation of this volume 2, the entire field, as 

 originally planned for the work, is covered, and there are excellent reasons 

 for feeling that the unavoidable delay has, in some regards, increased the 

 real value of the present book, as it has afforded opportunity for the 

 preparation of chapters of a more general import, particularly bearing 

 upon the relations of the bird life of the State to human concerns. 



John M. Clarke 



Director 



