INTRODUCTION. 9 



ject ; and Dr. Belknap, in his " History of New Hampshire," as well aa 

 Dr. Williams, in that of Vermont, have each enumerated a few of our 

 birds. But these, from the nature of the publications in which they 

 have been introduced, can he considered only as catalogues of names, 

 without the detail of specific particulars, or the figured and colored 

 representations of the birds themselves. This task, the hardest of all, has 

 been reserved for one of far inferior abilities, but not of less zeal. With 

 the example of many solitary individuals, in other countries, who have 

 succeeded in such an enterprise, he has cheerfully engaged in the under- 

 taking, trusting for encouragement solely to the fidelity with which it 

 will be conducted. 



