HERMIT THRUSH 10 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET 14 CHICKADEE 22 BROWN CREEPER (colored) 28 CATBIRD 36 AMERICAN DIPPER 42 SPRAGUE'S PIPIT 46 YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT (colored) 52 YELLOW-THROATED VIREO AND NEST 56 LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE 60 SCARLET TANAGER (colored) 76 ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK (colored) 86 CARDINAL 90 RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD 94 MEADOWLARK (colored) 100 BLUE JAY 122 AMERICAN MAGPIE (colored) 126 DESERT HORNED LARK 132 KINGBIRD (colored) 136 NIGHTHAWK 158 DOWNY WOODPECKER 166 BELTED KINGFISHER (colored) 170 YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO 174 SCREECH OWL 180 SPARROW HAWK 188 AMERICAN OSPREY, OR FISH HAWK (colored) 192 Eight of the sixteen colored plates are from drawings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and these are signed with his name. The other colored plates and the twenty-eight plain half-tones are from photographs of mounted specimens, many of which are in the collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and are reproduced by permission. The First Book also contains twenty cuts in the text. FIRST BOOK THE FIRST BOOK OF BIRDS I WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW BIRDS seem to be the happiest creatures on earth, yet they have none of what we call the comforts of life. They have no houses to live in, no beds to sleep on, no breakfast and dinner provided for them. This book is to tell something about them; where they live and what they eat, where they sleep, how they get their beautiful dress, and many other things. But no one can tell all about their lives and habits, for no one knows all their ways. Men who study dead birds can tell how they are made, how their bones are put together, and how many feathers there are in the wings and tail. Of course it is well to know these things. But to see how birds live is much more interesting than to look at dead ones.