PREFACE 



AS we review the large list of books on American orni- 

 thology now in print, it seems almost incredible that, 

 when the first edition of the "Ornithology and 

 Oology of New England " was published in 1S67, there was 

 hardly another book to be obtained on our birds, adapted to 

 popular use. 



The large and very expensive work of Audubon, and 

 the smaller ones by S"uttall and Wilson, comprised about 

 everything there was, and these were to be found by ac- 

 cident only on the book-dealers' shelves, and were held 

 at prices quite beyond the reach of the masses. 



Repeated inquiries from numerous persons interested in 

 ornithology convinced me that there was a great and in- 

 creasing want for a popular work on our birds, and in 

 response to them I set about its preparation and publi- 

 cation. 



In this book I corrected certain important errors that 

 had been published in relation to the breeding habits of 

 some of the species, and added new facts to our knowledge 

 respecting those of others. I also gave pretty elaborate 

 descriptions of the nests and eggs of many that had not 

 been before described. 



Up to that period comparatively little attention had been 

 devoted to oology in this country, and very few of our 

 professed ornithologists were well acquainted with the eggs 

 of a large proportion of our birds. 



Hardly one ornithologist in ten, at the time the book 

 was first issued, could identify the nest and eggs of such 

 birds as the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bird, Rusty 

 Blackbird, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Black-throated Green 

 Warbler, and scores of others, such as are now regarded 

 as common, and are found in the collections of all who 

 make any claims as ornithologists. 



This seems hard to believe, but there are few who 



