PREFACE 



Much interest and enjoyment may be added to our lives 

 by familiarity with those most beautiful, sprightly, and musi- 

 cal forms of life, — the birds. Yet few of us know or even 

 see more than a very small part of the feathered songsters 

 of our woods, fields, and waysides. 



The object of this book is to encourage the study of birds 

 by rendering it a pleasant and easy task. The introductory 

 chapters explain briefly the meaning of technical terms used 

 by ornithologists. These chapters are designed chiefly for 

 reference, a much smaller vocabulary being employed in the 

 body of the book. 



The descriptions have been prepared with great care, and 

 present several advantages over those in other books : 



(1) They are short, being limited to points essential to 

 the identification of the species. 



(2) They consist generally of only two connected sen- 

 tences, which can readily be recalled while looking at a 

 bird. They are thus especially adapted for field use. 



(3) Sufficient reference is made to the changes due to sex, 

 age, and season, without describing in any particular species 

 all the phases found in nature. 



