TT EA 
AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
Vol. I.—MAY, 1867.—No. 3 
——<~“>— 
SOME ERRORS REGARDING THE HABITS OF 
OUR BIRDS. 
BY T. M. BREWER, M. D. 
THERE are few who have written upon the habits of 
our birds that have not inadvertently committed errors. 
There are none of us, certainly no ornithologists, who, 
with all the care they may have taken to be right, and 
with all possible desire to be exact, have not had occa- — 
sion to retrace their steps, and seek to amend their rec- 
ord. There is no name, however celebrated in the annals 
of science, but has come down to us associated with more 
or less of inaccurate observations ; and the more extensive 
ee his researches, the more brilliant his discoveries, the more 
shall we find the mistakes and errors he shall e 
-the wrong conclusi i taeae iion 
from too few facts, or from facts which different circum- 
stances, at other times, cause to assume a very different 
aspect. 
At the same time, however charitable we may be, how- _ 
Tant 
UK District of Massachusetts, 
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 15 
ever lenient even towards errors and incorrect statements 
Ae ee Bata O a PE R E 
