For two summers not a blue wing, not a blue
warble. I seemed to miss something kindred and precious from my environment --
the visible embodiment of the tender sky and the wistful soil. What a loss, I
said, to the coming generations of dwellers in the country -- no bluebird in
the spring! What will the farm-boy date from? But the fear was groundless: the
birds are regaining their lost ground; broods of young blue-coats are again
seen drifting from stake to stake or from mullen-stalk to mullen-stalk about
the fields in summer, and our April air will doubtless again be warmed and
thrilled by this lovely harbinger of spring. -- JOHN BURROUGHS, August 19,
1897
PREFACE
Not to have so much as a bowing acquaintance with the birds that nest in our
gardens or under the very eaves of our houses; that haunt our wood-piles; keep
our fruit-trees free from slugs; waken us with their songs, and enliven our
walks along the roadside and through the woods, seems to be, at least, a
breach of etiquette toward some of our most kindly disposed neighbors.
Birds of prey, game and water birds are not included in the book. The
following pages are intended to be nothing more than a familiar introduction
to the birds that live near us. Even in the principal park of a great city
like New York, a bird-lover has found more than one hundred and thirty
species; as many, probably, as could be discovered in the same sized territory
anywhere.
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