once, to break away and start afresh. It is for this reason that the author has relig- 

 iously abstained from reading Audubon or Wilson, or indeed any of the "old masters" — 

 to the end that he might see his birds with fresh eyes and use, if possible, an unworn 

 language. This has entailed real sacrifice, but it may also prove to have been a real gain. 



Yet having said so much by way of apology for alleged originality, I have done 

 scant justice to the magnificent accumulations of the Cooper Ornithological Club in 

 "The Condor" (now in its twenty-fifth year), or, indeed, to my own dependence upon 

 it. Through the courtesy of the Club itself and of one of its business managers, Mr. 

 W. Lee Chambers, I have been supplied with a double file of "The Condor" for clipping, 

 and have made large use of it. "The Birds of California" is, therefore, essentially a 

 free digest of the cooperative work accomplished in California during the past quarter 

 of a century. My thanks are due, both individually and collectively, to all contribu- 

 tors of "The Condor," and to a lesser degree of "The Auk"; and my only regret is that 

 the more impatient movement of my own particular genre has precluded the possibility 

 of doing exact justice to all available sources. 



Consistency in the interpretation of bird-life is as impossible today as it was twenty 

 years ago. Most of us who follow the birds are partly scientist, partly sportsman, and 

 partly poet. Each interest in turn combats the others, or is at least seen to be incon- 

 sistent with them. Nevertheless, even here some ground has been gained. The field 

 of "sport," i. e., of bird-killing as sport, has been more and more sharply restricted, 

 until its fundamental inconsistencies are beginning to appear. An outlet for honest 

 energies has, however, been provided by bird photography and, indeed, by note-taking. 

 In science, likewise, the ample accumulations of the larger museums have made it un- 

 necessary that the serious student of ornithology should always lug about a shot-gun. 

 Modern binoculars increase the field efficiency of the student eight or ten times, and the 

 liabilities of error are correspondingly reduced. Here also the new scientific sport 

 of bird-banding (accomplished by a painless method of trapping) is likely to displace 

 the cruder method of bird-killing, and this bids fair to accomplish tenfold greater results 

 for science. 



A tremendous gain has been made during the last three decades in the sentimental 

 attitude toward birds. The pursuit of birds with sticks and stones and guns and the 

 indiscriminate robbing of birds' nests have given way to intelligent interest and a 

 solicitous care for the welfare of the birds on the part of old and young. Too much 

 credit for this salutary result cannot be given to the National Association of Audubon 

 Societies, and to its affiliated societies which exist throughout the land. That the inter- 

 est thus aroused has not always exhibited the characteristics of maturity, and that, in 

 turn, some incidental injustice has been done to science, goes without saying. Never- 

 theless, there now exists a splendid and alert interest in birds on the part of the American 

 people, and to such a body of interest science presents its case with confidence and 

 rejoicing. 



In the preparation of this work the author has enjoyed unusual opportunities of 

 study and travel afield. Work has been conducted in all but four of California's fifty- 

 eight counties, and the ones omitted are homogeneous in character with the regions 

 visited. In a realm so vast and so varied as California, however, one must be privi- 

 leged indeed who could claim complete understanding of its diverse topographical and 

 faunistic elements. For myself, I confess to a sense of utter inadequacy. There are 



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