ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
3 
paragraphs entitled “Range.” 1 As these Ranges are subordinated to 
the State Records, they are stated arbitrarily, from north to south 
(roughly in an ellipse from northwest to northeast and south from south¬ 
east to southwest) without regard to centers of distribution. 
The condensed descriptions of birds—in which the field characters 
and the most important marks are italicized to help the beginner and 
the more detailed characters given for the benefit of the student 1 2 — 
are taken in part from my Handbook of Western Birds, Chapman’s 
Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America, Coues’s Key to North 
American Birds, Ridgway’s Birds of North and Middle America, Bent’s 
Life Histories of North American Birds, Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway’s 
History of North American Birds, Chapman’s Notes on the Plumages of 
North American Birds published in Bird-Lore (beginning in 1910 and 
still continuing), Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer’s Game Birds of Cali¬ 
fornia; Forbush’s Birds of Massachusetts, Vols. 1 and 2, Taverner’s 
Birds of Western Canada, Dwight’s Gulls of the World, and Hoffman’s 
Birds of the Pacific States. 3 
For those interested in the vitally important question of the economic 
status of birds, I have introduced paragraphs entitled “Food,” derived 
mainly from the publications and files of the Biological Survey and Hen¬ 
derson’s Practical Value of Birds. 
Descriptions of nests and eggs have been taken from the Handbook 
of Western Birds, Bent’s Life Histories of North American Birds, 
Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer’s Game Birds of California, Coues’s Key 
to North American Birds (Fifth Edition), and from the files of the Auk, 
the Condor, and the Oologist since the publication of the Handbook in 
1902. 
The life-history material, or notes on the general habits of the birds, 
when adequate local data have been lacking, has been added from the 
published records of observers in other States; but otherwise has been 
1 Where detailed information regarding range is desired, consult Bent's Life Histories of North 
American Birds, United States National Museum Bulletins 107, 113, 121, 126, 130, 136, 142; Cooke’s 
Migration Series, in Bird-Lore, 1903-1916, and Oberholser’s second series, Migration of North American 
Birds in Bird-Lore beginning in 1917 and still continuing, compiled from data on file in the Biological 
Survey; Macoun’s Catalogue of Canadian Birds; Preble's Biological Investigation of the Atlmbaska- 
Maekenzie Region and his Biological Investigation of the Hudson Bay Region; Headley’s Birds of 
Saskatchewan; Bradshaw’s Check-List of the Birds of Saskatchewan; Seton's Birds of Manitoba; Dis¬ 
tributional Lists of the Birds of British Columbia (Brooks and Swarth), Montana (Saunders), Cali¬ 
fornia (Grinnell), and Arizona (Swarth); Woodcock’s Annotated List of Birds of Oregon, Merriam’s 
Biological Rcconnoissance of South Central Idaho; Sclater’s History of the Birds of Colorado; Hoffman’s 
Birds of Nevada; Grave and Walker's Birds of Wyoming; Goss’r History of the Birds of Kansas; 
Swonk’s Birds and Mammals of Nebraska; Wetmore’s Observations on the Birds, of Argentina, Para¬ 
guay, Uruguay, and Chile; Forbush’s Birds of Massachusetts aud other New England States; and local 
lists in the volumes of the Auk, the Condor, and the Wilson Bulletin. (See Literature Cited at end of 
book.) 
2 The measurements are taken from Ridgway’s Manual of North American Birds, and Birds of 
North and Middle America, or, in species described since the publication of these volumes, from recent 
works or from the type descriptions, and are given in inches and tenths of inches. The “bill” measure¬ 
ment is that, of the exposed culmen. In the dcscriptiona of plumage the color of iris, bill, lege, and feet 
is not given for the Ferching Birds unless they are exceptions to the general Passerine rule of brown 
eyes, black or horn color bill, and black or brownish legs and feet. The colors of the soft parks are 
subject to individual as well as sexual and seasonal variation, and as comparatively little is known of 
them current errors can only be corrected by most careful observation and accurate records. The 
“ juvcnal plumage” given is the first plumage (after the natal down). 
3 When full details of plumages and sequence of molts are desired, consult Ridgway’s Birds of 
North and Middle America (U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50), Bent’s Life Histories of North American Birds 
(Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.), Forbush's Birds o 
Massachusetts and other New England States, and Chapman’s Warblers of North America. 
