The Birds of Washington

Of this work in all its editions 1250 copies have been printed and the plates destroyed.

Of the Original Edition 350 copies have been printed and bound, of which this copy is No. 298.

HEPBURN’S LEUCOSTICTE
MALE, ⅚ LIFE SIZE
From a Water-color Painting by Allan Brooks

Copyright, 1909,
by
William Leon Dawson

Half-tone work chiefly by The Bucher Engraving Company.
Composition and Presswork by The New Franklin Printing Company.
Binding by The Ruggles-Gale Company.

To the
Members
of the
Caurinus Club,
in grateful recognition of their friendly
services, and in expectation that
under their leadership the interests
of ornithology will prosper in
the Pacific Northwest,
this work is respectfully
Dedicated

EXPLANATORY.

TABLE OF COMPARISONS.

Measurements are given in inches and hundredths and in millimeters, the latter enclosed in parentheses.

KEY OF ABBREVIATIONS.

References under Authorities are to faunal lists, as follows:

For fuller account of these lists see Bibliography in Vol. II.

References under Specimens are to collections, as follows:

PREFACE.

Love of the birds is a natural passion and one which requires neither analysis nor defense. The birds live, we live; and life is sufficient answer unto life. But humanity, unfortunately, has had until recently other less justifiable interests—that of fighting pre-eminent among them—so that out of a gory past only a few shadowy names of bird-lovers emerge, Aristotle, Pliny the Elder, Ælian. Ornithology as a science is modern, at best not over two centuries and a half old, while as a popular pursuit its age is better reckoned by decades. It is, therefore, highly gratifying to those who feel this primal instinct strongly to be able to note the rising tide of interest in their favorite study. Ornithology has received unwonted attention of late, not only in scientific works but also in popular literature, and it has taken at last a deserved place upon the curriculum of many of our colleges and secondary schools.

We of the West are just waking, not too tardily we hope, to a realization of our priceless heritage of friendship in the birds. Our homesteads have been chosen and