PREFACE 
T HE connection of the Biological Survey with the present 
volume began in 1889, when Vernon Bailey, hold naturalist 
of the Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, as the Survey 
was then called, spent several weeks in making collections and 
observations in New Mexico, under the direction of the first 
chief of the Bureau, Dr. C. Hart Merriam. Beginning in 1903, 
Mr. Bailey was detailed to make a biological survey of New 
Mexico, and he with Mrs. Bailey and Various members of the 
Survey devoted several field seasons to the work of collecting 
specimens and notes on the birds and other wild life of the 
State. Several years ago, during the administration of Henry 
W. Henshaw, the late Wells W. Cooke was detailed to bring 
together for publication all available data on the bird life of 
the State, under the direction of Dr. E. W. Nelson, then chief 
of the Bureau's division of biological investigations. This task, 
when nearing completion, was interrupted by the death of 
Professor Cooke. 
For some time the work remained unfinished. Then Mrs. 
Bailey, whose extensive publications on western birds included 
important original contributions on the birds of New Mexico, 
was asked by Doctor Nelson, at that time chief of the Bureau’ 
to bring the report to date. The scope of the work was then 
enlarged, and the resulting book, the first comprehensive report 
on the bird life of the Southwest, is herewith presented. Its 
publication has been made possible through the efforts of the 
New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and the State 
Game Protective Association, aided by the generous coopera¬ 
tion of other interested organizations and individual citizens 
of New Mexico. 
Paul G. Redington, 
Chief, Biological Survey. 
Bureau of Biological Survey, 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C. 
October 31, 1928. 
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