PREFACE.

study, but are always about us, and even a slight famil- iarity with them will be of value long after school days Popular interest must precede the desire for purely technical knowledge. The following pages are not ad- dressed to past masters in ornithology, but to those who desire a general knowledge of bird-life and some ac- quaintance with our commoner birds. The ojjening chapters of this book briefly define the bird, its place in Nature and its relation to man, and outline the leading facts in its life-history. The concluding chapters pre- sent the portraits, names, and addresses of upward of one hundred familiar birds of eastern North America, with such information concerning their comings and goings as will lead, I trust, to their being found at home. After this introduction the student may be left on the threshold, with the assurance that his entrance to the innermost circles of bird-life depends entirely on his own l^atience and enthusiasm. Frank M. Chapman. American Museum of Natural History, New York city, January, 1897.