y are published under
government auspices by the United States National Museum at Washington,
D. C., and may be procured perhaps without cost by writing to the
secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Of this the writer cannot be
absolutely sure, as the supply of printed copies may be limited.

Nothing more need be said about bird manuals, save to warn you against
spending your money for books which describe only a part of the
avifauna of a given region and yet are advertised as serviceable for
the identification of all birds. Unless you have plenty of money to
spend, when you buy a manual buy one that is scientifically accurate
and complete. Nothing is more trying to the student of birds, whether
tyro or expert, than to encounter a new bird and then fail to find it
described or even mentioned in the book that has been foisted upon him
as a manual. In saying this I do not mean to discourage the purchase
of the charming popular books written in a literary vein and describing
personal observations on bird life, such as the works of John
Burroughs, Bradford Torrey, Olive Thorne Miller, and many others.
These books, however, are not advertised as handbooks, and thus no one
is deceived in buying them.

Even with the best manual in hand, you must not expect to be able to
identify every new bird at the first attempt, for some species are
either exceedingly shy or obscurely marked, or probably both, while
quite a number are so much alike in markings and habits that it is hard
to distinguish them from one another. A few birds remained enigmas to
me for a number of years, in spite of the help of the field glass. At
intervals for several months you will often catch provoking glimpses of
some nymph-like bird before you succeed in determining its true place
in the avian system. But patience and persistence will some day
overcome the most stubborn difficulties.

Since the foregoing references to leading bird manuals were written, a
new work, which is unique in plan, has been published. I refer to the
book entitled "Color Key to North American Birds"; text by Frank M.
Chapman, pictures by Chester A. Reed. The range of the volume is from
the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean and from the southern boundary of the
United States to the far north. It contains a brief description of
every species and sub-species within the limits named; a key to all the
Orders and Families, with the common and scientific names of all the
birds; an