INTRODUCTION 



This book is called "Bird Portraits" because Mr. Seton -Thompson's 

 pictures are always faithful and charming portraits of the birds which he 

 draws. But since a bird's portrait, no matter how accurate, can show its 

 subject in only one position, singing, feeding, flying, or sitting, a short account 

 of some of the main events of the bird' s life has been added to each picture. 



Any one who learns from such books as Mr. Seton- Thompson 's how 

 beset with perils is the life of every wild creature will take the greatest 

 pains at all times, and especially in the nesting season, not only not to injure 

 or persecute such defenseless little creatures as our song birds, but also to protect 

 them in every way. Whoever seeks their acquaintance, in the spirit of 

 friendship,, will always be grateful for the interest and pleasure to be gained 

 from such friends. 



Of the twenty birds whose portraits are here presented, a majority are 



only summer residents in the Northern States; some visit us only in winter; a 



few spend the whole year near the same spot. The birds which are first 



described are those that are most closely associated with the return of spring ; 



then follow those whose gay colors and bright songs give much of its charm 



to early summer; last come those that brave, even in the North, the tempests 



of winter. 



R. H. 



