PREFACE vii 



(Picws erythrocephalus)," evidently because of its 

 conspicuous red crest. The reader who desires to make 

 a special study of Thoreau as an ornithologist — to 

 learn his mistakes as well as his discoveries — must go 

 to the Journal itself. There he will find the true and 

 complete record of Thoreau's bird observations, — in- 

 cluding all the brief notes which are of no value except 

 in the compilation of migration data and the like, and 

 the mere identifications, mistaken and otherwise. In 

 the present volume it has seemed best to confine our- 

 selves to the notes which have some intrinsic value, 

 whether literary or scientific, — using both terms in a 

 liberal sense. 



It is to be borne in mind that these notes are from 

 Thoreau's Journal and therefore have not always been 

 cast in a final literary form. Regarded as literature, 

 many of them stand in need of shaping and polishing, 

 but they are none the less interesting for that, and it 

 is also to be remembered that Thoreau's notes were 

 seldom mere records of fact. He never forgot that 

 writing was his vocation, and when he wrote it was for 

 the purpose of recording his thoughts in the best lan- 

 guage that came to his mind at the moment. He wrote 

 rapidly, and occasionally a word was omitted or the 

 wrong word slipped in, though that happened with 

 rather surprising infrequency, all things considered. 

 The editor of this volume was associated with Mr. 

 Bradford Torrey in the editing of Thoreau's complete 

 Journal, and he can affirm from personal knowledge 

 that Thoreau's omissions and slips of the pen are all 

 carefully indicated there. In the present book it has 



