PREFACE 



Not to have so much as a bowing acquaintance with the 

 birds that nest in our gardens or under the very eaves of our 

 houses ; that haunt our wood-piles ; keep our fruit-trees free from 

 slugs ; waken us with their songs, and enliven our walks along 

 the roadside and through the woods, seems to be, at least, a 

 breach of etiquette toward some of our most kindly disposed 

 neighbors. 



Birds of prey, game and water birds are not included in the 

 book. The following pages are intended to be nothing more than 

 a familiar introduction to the birds that live near us. Even in the 

 principal park of a great city like New York, a bird-lover has found 

 more than one hundred and thirty species ; as many, probably, 

 as could be discovered in the same sized territory anywhere. 



The plan of the book is not a scientific one, if the term 

 scientific is understood to mean technical and anatomical. The 

 purpose of the writer is to give, in a popular and accessible form, 

 knowledge which is accurate and reliable about the life of our 

 common birds. This knowledge has not been collected from the 

 stuffed carcasses of birds in museums, but gleaned afield. In a 

 word, these short narrative descriptions treat of the bird's char- 

 acteristics of size, color, and flight; its peculiarities of instinct 

 and temperament; its nest and home life; its choice of food; its 

 songs ; and of the season in which we may expect it to play its 

 part in the great panorama Nature unfolds with faithful precision 

 year after year. They are an attempt to make the bird so live 

 before the reader that, when seen out of doors, its recognition 

 shall be instant and cordial, like that given to a friend. 



The coloring described in this book is sometimes more vivid 

 than that found in the works of some learned authorities, whose 

 conflicting testimony is often sadly bewildering to the novice. 

 In different parts of the country, and at different seasons of the 

 year, the plumage of some birds undergoes many changes. The 

 reader must remember, therefore, that the specimens examined 

 and described were not, as before stated, the faded ones in our 

 museums, but live birds in their fresh, spring plumage, studied 

 afield. 



