point the student at the same time to at least the major sources of information, near or 

 remote. Accordingly, leading references, to the limiting number of five or six, have 

 been provided, solely for the benefit of those who wish to carry their studies further. 

 Selections in many instances have had to be quite arbitrary; and in general the more 

 obvious source books, monographs, and special treatises, as well as the more compre- 

 hensive works of reference have been dismissed after a few citations. Continued refer- 

 ence to these approved sources would suggest itself to the student in any event, so our 

 effort has been directed rather to list the more fugitive and likely-to-be-overlooked 

 articles and reports, or else those of more striking regional significance. 



Readers will remark an insistent oological note in these pages. The author has 

 long cherished a notion of the importance of the study of birds' eggs in seeking to 

 resolve the problems of phylogenetic relationships," and indeed in arriving at some 

 measure of understanding of the nature and methods of life itself. Privileged years 

 have strengthened this conviction and have made clear to him the necessity of further 

 devotion to this task. In January, 1916, with the help of indulgent (but non-pro- 

 fessional) friends, the author established the Museum of Comparative Oology in Santa 

 Barbara. This institution cultivated its special field, with distinction, for a number 

 of years, and was, incidentally, of immense service to "The Birds of California:" but, 

 later, when the distinctive character of the institution began to alter, the author with- 

 drew and has since organized a new and purely scientific institution, the International 

 Museum of Comparative Oology. The new movement, which proposes to correlate 

 the interests of scientific oology throughout the world, boasts a membership in thirty- 

 four of the American States and in more than thirty foreign states and countries, and 

 gives promise, thus, of a considerable usefulness to science. My sincerest thanks are, 

 however, due to the old institution both for its practical support and for its consistent 

 appreciation of the prior claims of the bird-book. 



But with this hasty review of technical matters we gladly return to a consideration 

 of the bird itself. Poet, legislator, scientist, sportsman, economist, sentimentalist — 

 how shall we get on together? How shall we agree whether to attack, or to cherish, 

 the traditions of bird lore? Who owns the birds? and what are they good for, anyhow? 

 A real principle of unity can be found only when we come to regard the birds' value to 

 society, that is, to all of us taken together. The question then becomes, not, Is this 

 bird worth more to me in my collection or upon my plate than as a living actor in the 

 drama of life? but, In what capacity can this bird best serve the interests of mankind? 

 There can be no doubt that the answer to the latter question is usually and increasingly, 

 As a living bird. Stuffed specimens we need, but only a representative number of them; 

 only a limited few of us are fitted to enjoy the pleasures of the chase, and the objects 

 of our passion are rapidly passing from view anyway, but never while the hearts of 

 men are set on peace, and the minds of men are alert to receive the impressions of the 

 Infinite, will there be too many birds to speak to eye and ear, and to minister to the 

 hidden things of the spirit. The birds belong to the people, not to a clique or a coterie, 

 but to all the people as heirs and stewards of the good things of God. 



It is of the esthetic value of the bird that we have tried to speak, not alone in our 

 descriptions but in our pictures. The author has a pleasant conviction, born of desire, 

 perhaps, that the bird in art is destined to figure much more largely in future years 

 than heretofore. We have learned something from the Japanese in this regard, but 



vii 



