THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF BIRDS
THE CHILDREN'S
BOOK OF BIRDS
WITH SIXTEEN COLORED PLATES AND
MANY OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PREFACE
The Children's Book of Birds combinesunder a single cover the First and Second Booksof Birds, originally published in 1899 and 1901respectively and still popular with children inand out of school and with other beginners inthe study of birds.
The book is intended to interest young peoplein the ways and habits of birds and to stimulatethem to further study. It has grown outof my experience in talking to schools. Fromthe youngest kindergarten scholar to boys andgirls of sixteen and eighteen, I have never failedto find young people intensely interested so longas I would tell them about bow the birds live.
Some of the results of these talks that havecome to my knowledge have been astonishingand far-reaching, such as that of one boy ofseven or eight, who persuaded the village boysaround his summer home to give up taking eggs[vi]and killing birds, and watch them instead, andwho was dubbed "Professor" by his eager followers.The effect has always been to makechildren love and respect the living bird.
It has therefore seemed to me that what isneeded at first is not the science of ornithology,—howeverdiluted,—but some account of thelife and habits, to arouse sympathy and interestin the living bird, neither as a target nor as aproducer of eggs, but as a fellow-creature whoseacquaintance it would be pleasant to make.
Naturally I have drawn on my own observationsfor much of the matter contained in thisbook, but these have been supplemented by consultationof recognized authorities in the variousfields of ornithology.
In each bird family treated of in the SecondBook I have given accounts of species to befound in the South and West as well as in theEastern States, and I have selected the mostcommon or typical species of each family. Incases where it was possible, I have chosen speciesrepresented in the different sections of the country,not only because the family traits are bettershown, but because it is more encouraging to a[vii]beginner to become acquainted with birds he cansee almost anywhere. Whe