I gratefully acknowledge indebtedness to Professor Robert Ridgway for counsel and assistance in determining State records; to Dr. A. K. Fisher for records and for comparison of specimens; to Dr. Chas. W. Richmond for confirmation of records; to Messrs. William L. Finley, Herman T. Bohlman, A. W. Anthony, W. H. Wright, Fred. S. Merrill, Warburton Pike, Walter I. Burton, A. Gordon Bowles, and Walter K. Fisher, for the use of photographs; to Messrs. J. M. Edson, D. E. Brown, A. B. Reagan, E. S. Woodcock, and to a score of others beside for hospitality and for assistance afield; to Samuel Rathbun, Prof. E. S. Meany, Prof. O. B. Johnson, Prof. W. T. Shaw, Miss Adelaide Pollock, and Miss Jennie V. Getty, for generous coöperation and courtesies of many sorts; to Francis Kermode, Esq., for use of the Provincial Museum collections, and to Prof. Trevor Kincaid for similar permission in case of the University of Washington collections. My special thanks are due my friend, Prof. Lynds Jones, the proven comrade of many an ornithological cruise, who upon brief notice and at no little sacrifice has prepared the Analytical Key which accompanies this work.
My wife has rendered invaluable service in preparing manuscript for press, and has shared with me the arduous duties of proof-reading. My father, Rev. W. E. Dawson, of Blaine, has gone over most of the manuscript and has offered many highly esteemed suggestions.
To our patrons and subscribers, whose timely and indulgent support has made this enterprise possible, I offer my sincerest thanks. To the trustees of the Occidental Publishing Company I am under a lasting debt of gratitude, in that they have planned and counselled freely, and in that they have so heartily seconded my efforts to make this work as beautiful as possible with the funds at command.
One’s roll of obligations cannot be reckoned complete without some recognition also of the dumb things, the products of stranger hearts and brains, which have faithfully served their uses in this undertaking: my Warner-and-Swasey binoculars (8-power)—I would not undertake to write a bird-book without them; the Graflex camera, which has taken most of the life portraits; the King canvas boat which has made study of the interior lake life possible;—all deserve honorable mention.
Then there is the physical side of the book itself. One cannot reckon up the myriad hands that have wrought upon it, engravers, printers, binders, paper-makers, messengers, even the humble goatherds in far-off Armenia, each for a season giving of his best—out of love, I trust. Brothers, I thank you all!
Of the many shortcomings of this work no one could be more sensible than its author. We should all prefer to spend a life-time writing a book, and having written it, to return and do it over again, somewhat otherwise. But book-making is like matrimony, for better or for worse. There is a finality about it which takes the comfort from one’s muttered declaration, “I could do it better another time.” What I have written I have written. I go now to spend a quiet day—with the birds.
William Leon Dawson.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
NOS. PAGE. [Dedication] i. [Explanatory] iii. [Preface] v. [List of Full-page Illustrations] xv. Description of Species Nos. 1-181. Order Passeres—Perching Birds. Suborder OSCINES—Song Birds. [Family Corvidæ—The Crows and Jays] 1-14 1 [Icteridæ—The Troupials] 15-22 43 [Fringillidæ—The Finches] 23-68 68 [Tanagridæ—The Tanagers] 69 170 [Mniotiltidæ—The Wood Warblers] 70-86 172 [Alaudidæ—The Larks] 87-89 212 [Motacillidæ—The Wagtails and Pipits] 90 221 [Turdidæ—The Thrushes] 91-102 225 [Sylviidæ—The Old World Warblers, Kinglets, and Gnatcatchers] 103-105 262 [Paridæ—The Titmice] 106-110 273 [Sittidæ—The Nuthatches] 111-113 287 [Certhiidæ—The Creepers] 114, 115 295 [Troglodytidæ—The Wrens] 116-122 301 [Mimidæ—The Mockingbirds] 123, 124 320 [Cinclidæ—The Dippers] 125 325 [Hirundinidæ—The Swallows] 126-132 329 [Ampelidæ—The Waxwings] 133, 134 348 [Laniidæ—The Shrikes] 135-137 352 [Vireonidæ—The Vireos] 138-141 358 Suborder CLAMATORES—Songless Perching Birds. [Family Tyrannidæ—The Tyrant Flycatchers] 142-151 369 Order Macrochires—Goatsuckers, Swifts, etc. Suborder TROCHILI—Hummers. [Family Trochilidæ—The Hummingbirds] 152-155 393 Suborder CAPRIMULGI—Goatsuckers. [Family Caprimulgidæ—The Nighthawks (Goatsuckers, etc.)] 156-158 404 Suborder CYPSELI—Swifts. [Family Micropodidæ—The Swifts] 159-161 410 Order Pici—Picarian Birds. [Family Picidæ—The Woodpeckers] 162-179 418 Order Coccyges—Cuculiform Birds. Suborder CUCULI—Cuckoos. [Family Cuculidæ—The Cuckoos] 180 452 Suborder ALCYONES—Kingfishers. [Family Alcedinidæ—The Kingfishers] 181 454