Birds of Canada 
INTRODUCTION 
OBJECT OF THE BOOK 
Of late years there has been a great awakening of interest in the 
subject of natural history. More and more people are beginning to realize 
how much pleasure and profit can be derived from observation of common 
natural objects. In this growing field of nature study, few subjects have 
attracted as much popular attention as birds, and few forms of life appeal 
so strongly to the aesthetic sense. They are beautiful; they arouse 
curiosity; their elusiveness piques the imagination; and by constantly 
presenting new aspects they escape becoming commonplace. 
Ornithology is one of the problems of nature that may be successfully 
attacked from so many points of view and in so many ways that there is 
interesting and valuable work for all to accomplish according to individual 
taste or opportunity. Those who incline towards systematic work may 
split their definitions as fine as human powers of observation permit. The 
animal psychologist can develop his problems as far as ingenuity can 
devise methods for experimentation. The ordinary nature lover can observe 
and note as painstakingly as opportunity permits; he may record inform- 
ation of scientific as well as popular interest, take pleasure in observing 
passing beauties, train his powers of observation, and acquire a knowledge 
that greatly increases his capacity for appreciating nature. Even the 
unsentimental, practical man, who has little outward sympathy with 
abstract beauty, has his attention attracted by the evident economic 
value of birds. 
Birds of Canada has been written to awaken and stimulate an interest, 
both aesthetic and practical, in the study of Canadian birds; to suggest 
the sentimental, scientific, and economic value of that study; to assist in 
the identification of native species; to furnish the economist with a ready 
means of determining bird friend from bird foe so that he may act intelli- 
gently towards them and in the best interests of himself and the country at 
large; to present in a readily accessible form reliable data upon which 
measures of protective legislation may be based; to point out some of the 
pitfalls that have caught the inexperienced in the past, and to suggest 
methods for their future avoidance. 
SCOPE 
This book deals with all kinds of birds known to occur in Canada. A 
few species of doubtful, or not too well authenticated, occurrence have 
been included to call attention to species about which more data are 
desirable. 
PLAN OF THE BOOK 
The systematic arrangement (See Classification, page 4, and Nomen- 
clature, page 6) used is that of the American Ornithologists' Union 
Check-list of North American Birds, 4th edition, 1931. This is a radical 
