INTRODUCTION. 
9 
ject ; and Dr. Belknap, in his "History of New Hampsliire," as well as 
Dr. Williams, in that of Vermont, have each enumerated a few of our 
birds. But these, from the nature of the publications in which tliey 
have been introduced, can be considered only as catalogues of names, 
without the detail of specific particulars, or the figured and colored 
representations of the birds themselves. This task, the hardest of all, has 
been reserved for one of far inferior abilities, but not of less zeal. With 
the example of many solitary individuals, in other countries, who have 
succeeded in such an enterprise, he has cheerfully engaged in the under- 
taking, trusting for encouragement solely to the fidelity with which it 
will be conducted. 
