FOREWORD 
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HIS collection of Nature-essays now presented to the 
reading public, is not a scientific treatise, but the plain 
notes and impressions of an amateur bird-lover. The 
young spirit that has since passed away, endeavors to have us 
take an interest in bird life. 
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There exists, in fact, a three-fold interest in this subject: 
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the aesthetic, the intellectual and the cultural. The appeal 
that the color, the sound and the flight of birds makes, enriches 
our sense of the beautiful. The study of the kinds of birds, 
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their manners and habits, and their relations to us are interest- 
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ing and useful subjects for the mind’s attention, and the store¬ 
house of our knowledge. Furthermore, any subject that can 
help us wing our flight heavenward, has its cultural effect in 
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taking us out of the materialism found in our daily lives. The 
consideration of Nature, and in particular the interest in bird 
life, unfolcjs to us the order of Providence, furnishing us with 
so many more pathways to the Creator. 
The purpose of editing the present collection of essays is 
not to offer this slight contribution to the literature of Nature 
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study, but rather, as a tribute of love and gratitude to a corn- 
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