AS Curator of the Department of Birds of the American Museum of Natural
History I have had exceptional facilities for the arrangement of
collections designed to give students a comprehensive view of local
bird-life without confusing them with unnecessary details.
Among other aids to this end a collection of 'Birds Found within 50
Miles of New York' has been placed in a special hall and so grouped that
the visitor who wishes to identify some bird seen within these limits
may do so with the least possible difficulty. In addition to the
'General Systematic Collection,' containing specimens of the 350-odd
species of birds which have been recorded from the New York City region,
there is also a 'Seasonal Collection.' This Seasonal Collection contains
only the birds of the month. Its base is the 'Permanent Resident Birds,'
or those which, like the Crow, are with us throughout the year. To
these, the migratory species are added or subtracted, as they come or
go. The collection of migratory species is therefore revised the first
of each month. Birds which are due to arrive during the month are added,
those which have left us are withdrawn. The Seasonal Collection thus
gives us, at a glance, a picture of the bird-life of the month and
correspondingly limits the field of our inquiry when we go to it to
learn the name of some strange bird recently observed. In January,
therefore, we have not to consider the birds of June, nor need we be
concerned with winter birds in summer. The season of occurrence thus
gives us an important clue to a bird's identity.
For somewhat more than a quarter of a century this small collection has
achieved its object so effectively that I have attempted to embody the
idea it demonstrates in a series of drawings which have been admirably
executed by Mr. Edmund Sawyer. As foundation plates or 'collections,' we
have first two 'cases' of the winter land birds of the Northeastern
States, or from about Maryland northward, containing the Permanent
Residents, which form part of the bird-life of every month of the year,
and the Winter Visitants, or those birds which come from the North in
the fall to remain with us until the following spring.
Cases 3 and 4 contain the Permanent Resident and Winter Visitant land
birds of the Southern States. Whether the student is in the North or in
the South he has, therefore, a 'collection' of the land birds which he
may expect to find during the winter months.
Cases 5 to 8 contain the migrants arranged according to the order of
their arrival from the South in the vicinity of New York City. Since it
is not practicable to have cases containing collections of migrants for
other latitudes, data are given showing what changes in dates should be
made to adapt the schedule presented to other localities, including
Washington, D.C., Ossining, N.Y., Cambridge, Mass., northern Ohio, Glen
Ellyn, near Chicago, and southeastern Minnesota. The records for these
localities are quoted from the author's 'Handbook of Birds of Eastern
North America' to which they were contributed respectively by Dr. C.W.
Richmond, Dr. A.K. Fisher, William Brewster, Lynds Jones, B.T. Gault,
and Dr. Thos. S. Roberts.
With these facts, the cases in a large measure tell their own story,
just as does our Museum Seasonal Collection; but further to assist the
student I have added what may be termed a 'label' for each of the
'specimens' they contain. These labels include comments on each bird's
distinctive characters, a statement of its nesting and winter range, the
notes on its status at various localities, to which I have just
referred, and brief remarks on its habits.
It is the specimens, however, not the labels, which warrant the
publication of this little volume, for I hope that, like their
prototypes in the American Museum, they will be a means of acquainting
us with "the most eloquent expressions of Nature's beauty, joy and
freedom," and thereby add to our lives a resource of incalculable value.
While the birds in the cases are small, they are drawn and reproduced
with such accuracy that no essential detail of color or form is lost.
Above all, they have the rare merit of being all drawn to nearly the
same scale. One will soon learn therefore to measure the proportions of
unknown birds by comparison with those with which one is familiar, and
since relative size is the most obvious character in naming birds in
nature, this is a feature of the first importance.
The student is strongly urged _first_, to become thoroughly familiar
with the 'map' of a bird given in the frontispiece: _second_, to use an
opera- or field-glass when observing birds: _third_, to write
descriptions of unknown birds _while they are in view_ stating their
length, shape, and as many details of their color and markings as can be
seen: _fourth_, to remember that one is not likely to find birds except
in their regular seasons: and, _fifth_, to take this book afield with
him and make direct comparison of the living bird with its colored
figure. The wide margins are designed for use in recording field-notes.