10 Preface. 



bor that accomplishes anything of real merit in 

 this life ; and the most successful ornithologists 

 will be found to be the hardest workers. 



" Therefore I would caution the beginner against 

 all impatience and disappointment at unsuccessful 

 attempts, and urge him to press forward, con- 

 tinually striving to improve upon past failures, 

 and soon, to his own astonishment, those things 

 which at first appeared difficult and awkward, 

 will become comparatively simple and easy. 

 Said an old teacher to me : ' I can tell you how 

 all these things are done, but I cannot enable you 

 to do them ; practice alone will accomplish that.' 



"A person with a light and delicate touch will 

 be most successful in this art ; therefore I recom- 

 mend it to the special attention of ladies. It is 

 a continual source of pleasure, and promotive to 

 the love of the great Nature which moves so 

 mysteriously around us. It is true that we have 

 seen those of coarse and vulgar minds and clumsy 

 fingers, eminently successful ; but what is more 

 revolting to a delicate appreciation, than to see 

 these bright creatures, so marvellously constructed 

 by our all-wise Father, tortured into life-like at- 



