Excerpt from The Birds of Essex County, Massachusetts

IN the following pages will be found first, a brief description Of Essex County with a general view of its geology, flora, and faunal areas; then follow chapters on the regions and their birds, peculiar to a maritime county, namely, the ocean, the sand beaches, the sand dunes, and the salt marshes. There are also chapters on the fresh marshes and on the ponds and their birds. These are followed by Chapters on the records from lighthouses along the coast and on the ornithological history of Essex County.

In the introduction to the Annotated List, the names of many ornitho logical workers are given who have generously contributed their notes and Observations, and to all of these I wish here to express my sincere thanks. Particularly I wish to thank Mr. William Brewster for the use of his collection and for the identification of doubtful specimens; Mr. Walter Deane for many kindnesses and for reviewing the botanical part of this list; Mr. W. A. Jeffries for his own notes and those of his brother, the late Dr. J. A. Jeffries; Mr. J. A. Farley for many valuable records, especially as regards the breeding of birds of prey; Dr. J. C. Phillips for his records from Wenham Lake; Mr. John Rob inson and Mr. John H. Sears for their kindness to me in the use Of the col lection of the Peabody Academy, at Salem; Mr. Ralph Hoffmann for much kindly help and criticism, and Dr. Glover M. Allen for his great assistance in revising manuscript and proof. I am also indebted to him for the map.

I have attempted to make the Annotated List' as' complete and accurate as possible, and have banished to a doubtful list all birds about which there is the least question. In the case of most of the water birds the annotations are given fully from my own observations not only as to the habits of the birds but also as to their call notes and their recognition in the field, as these birds are so characteristic of a seashore region, and are so often slightly treated in the books. Of the land birds, a few only of the characteristic and interesting ones are treated at any length, such as the Horned Lark, American Crow, Snow Bunting, Lapland Longspur, Ipswich Sparrow, Sharp-tailed Sparrows, the Swal lows, and a few others. A Bibliography is given at the end of the memoir.

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