XX 
PLAN OF THE WORK 
I have to thank my friend Dr. Thomas S. Roberts. The Charleston 
and South Carolina coast records are from Wayne’s excellent work 
on “The Birds of South Carolina.” 
Biographies . — After devoting separate paragraphs to the bird’s 
general range, its manner of occurrence, comparative numbers, times 
of migration at several specific points, and its nest and eggs, the space 
remaining is given to a brief sketch of its haunts, notes, and disposi- 
tion, with the particular object of aiding in its identification in the 
field. 
In preparing these biographical sketches, I have aimed to secure 
the best material possible, using my own notes only when I felt they 
were based on adequate observations. Not only have I carefully exam- 
ined the literature relating to the habits of our birds, selecting what 
seemed to be the most trustworthy accounts of their appearance in 
life, but, through the generous cooperation of fellow-students of living 
birds, I am able to present character sketches of some of our birds, 
written by observers who are everywhere known for their sympathy 
with birds out-of-doors. Thus, I have to thank Mrs. Miller, Mrs. 
Bailey, Mr. Bicknell, Mr. Brewster, Dr. Dwight, Mr. Seton, and Mr. 
Torrey, for pen pictures of birds with which they are especially familiar, 
each sketch being signed by its author. 
Illustrations . — Tappan Adney’s pen-and-ink drawings, which have 
added so much to the value of the preceding editions of the “Hand- 
book,” appear in the present edition. To them have been added others 
by Ernest Thompson Seton, from “Bird-Life.” 
In the matter of illustrations, the present edition of the “Hand- 
book” is chiefly distinguished from its predecessors by the inclusion 
of fifteen full-page plates by America’s foremost painter of birds, Louis 
Agassiz Fuertes. Of those in color, some are designed to aid in identify- 
ing the more difficult species of birds, like Flycatchers and Thrushes, 
while others are intended to illustrate various phenomena in connection 
with the plumage of birds. 
The Color Chart . — It must not be supposed for a moment that the 
colors on this chart represent the colors of all the birds of eastern North 
America. It does not do so any more than an artist’s palette shows all 
the colors of his picture; in fact, I have called this plate my mental 
palette, and have frequently used two, and even three, terms to describe 
a given shade or tint. 
It should be clearly understood, therefore, that when grayish brown, 
for example, is mentioned, it does not follow that the feathers to which 
the term is applied are of exactly the same color as the plate, but that 
they are nearer to this color than to any other in the plate. Used even 
in this general way, the plate will prove a far more definite basis for 
description than if every one were left to form his own idea of the colors 
named. 
