PREFATORY NOTE. 
Two years ago a pair of robins nested and reared their young 
on the sill of a window in the John Dove schoolhouse, within 
reach of the hands of the children. Every year woodpeckers make 
their home in the old maple on the play ground, and many birds 
find a favorite feeding place on the lawn. The birds are fond of 
Andover and our town furnishes exceptional opportunities for bird 
study. Few towns of Eastern Massachusetts afford a larger num- 
ber and variety. 
As an aid to bird study in our public schools this manual has 
been published by the School Department. The notes and tables 
have been compiled by Mr. Howard I: Ford, from his private 
note-book. Mr. Ford has added a short bibliography of popular 
bird-books and now generously permits the publication of the 
whole for use by teachers and pupils in the Andover schools. The 
chief aim of the manual is to give information of local value which 
cannot be found in other hand-books. It will prove a helpful 
supplement to any of the books mentioned on page 16. 
It is hoped that through this little book our school children 
will acquire a more intelligent and humane interest in birds, and a 
better appreciation of their value to man; and it is hoped also 
that many a child will catch some of the zeal and experience some 
of the pleasure that prompted and attended the preparation of 
this excellent little manual, The Birds of Andover. 
G. E. JOHNSON. 
ANDOVER, Mass., May, 1goo. 
