vi INTRODUCTION. 



explicit in assigning names to individual localities, but I believe 

 that upon a more mature consideration they will thank me for 

 avoiding the temptation to smooth my text by generalizations. 

 I regret that from one cause and another I have not been able 

 to be thus explicit in all cases. 



The principal reasons for this multiplication of names are 

 obvious, viz. : differences in size, shape, and color between males 

 and females; periodical changes in plumage; mistaking one 

 variety for another ; and, more particularly, differences of opin- 

 ion as to the names most appropriate. 



Many of those English names which perhaps we all ought to 

 adopt, such as "Hooded Merganser," "Hudsonian Godwit," 

 "Bartramian Sandpiper," "Pectoral Sandpiper," etc., are used 

 about as little by the inhabitants of the United States generally 

 as the strictly scientific names ; while certain appellations given 

 in our later and best ornithological works, as common among 

 gunners, are quoted from bird-books belonging to a period when 

 popular names were to some extent different from those of to- 

 day. But, though 



"Use may revive the obsoletest word, 

 And banish those that now are most in vogue," 



our gunners have, as a rule, proved themselves a very conserva- 

 tive class, continuing the bird names of their forefathers persist- 

 ently, despite the teachings and sneers of scientists and book- 

 learned sportsmen. Many of these names, probably, appear now 

 for the first time in print, yet few are of recent origin; and 

 though some may be a little time-worn, they are time-honored, 

 and as familiar in certain localities as " cow," " dog," and " cat." 

 I would remind any who may think it unwise, or idle, to record 

 provincialisms so simple and apparently unmeaning as some of 

 these, that such a view of the subject is itself a provincialism 

 most unreasonable. Names which appear to us absurdly gro- 

 tesque and outlandish are mediums of communication between 

 men as wise as ourselves, though educated in a different school, 

 and the homely nomenclature of those who shoot, not alone for 



