XVi PREFACE. 
cated). The genera of each section are marked by Roman 
numerals, and the species belonging to them by capital letters 
in parenthesis. The biography of each species is divided into 
four parts :— (a) a description of the mature birds (but not of 
the young, for which see the Appendix E); (b) a description 
of their nest and eggs; (c) a description of their habits, and 
(d) of their notes. In the first part, various minute details 
are frequently omitted, which it has been thought unnecessary 
to introduce. In spelling the English names of birds, the 
following system has been here adopted. Specific names are 
begun with capital letters to distinguish them from similar 
names of groups (e. g. the Crow Blackbirds) ; when they are’ 
composed partly of a family-name, such as “thrush,” that 
name is never compounded with another (e. g. Wood Thrush) ; 
when they are compounds of “bird,” that word is united by a 
hyphen to a noun immediately preceding, but not to an adjec- 
tive, except in cases to the contrary, established by long usage 
(e. g. Cat-bird, Blue Bird, but Swamp Blackbird). 
Finally, that this book may prove useful to students, inter- 
esting to lovers of nature, and acceptable to the public, is the 
hope and wish of its 
1876. AUTHOR. 
