FRANK M. CHAPMAN
COPYRIGHT,
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.
1903
COPYRIGHT,
D. APPLETON & CO.
1912
Published November 1912
Printed in the United States
PREFACE.
To learn to call a bird by its right name is the first step in the study of ornithology. We may propose to investigate the structure, food, and habits of the birds of the world, or desire merely a superficial knowledge of the species found in our garden, but in either case we are at once confronted by this question of identification.
From the scientific point of view there is but one satisfactory way to identify a bird. A specimen of it should be in hand in order that its form, color, and size may be accurately determined, when, with the aid of analytical keys, with which most text-books are provided, it is a simple matter to ascertain the bird's name.
Wide experience has shown the writer, however, that where one dead bird is identified, hundreds of attempts are made to name the living bird in nature. This is to be expected. It is the natural outcome of the recent remarkable interest in the study of birds which, fostered by Audubon Societies and nature study teachers, has assumed an ethical and educational importance of the first magnitude.