Bird-Lore/Volume 01/No. 1/Birds of Washington

Birds of Washington and Vicinity. By Mrs. L. W. Maynard, with Introduction by Florence A. Merriam Washington, D. C., 1898. 12 mo, pages 204. Cuts in the text, 18. Price, 85 cents.

In a prefatory note the author states that this book “has been prepared at the suggestion of the Audubon Society of the District of Columbia, in the belief that a local work giving untechnical descriptions of all birds likely to be seen in this vicinity, with something of the haunts and habits of those that nest here, will be useful to many who desire, an acquaintance with our own birds, but do not know just how to go about making it.”

The book seems admirably adapted to achieve this end. The opening pages by Miss Merriam are a capital introduction to the study of birds in the District of Columbia. They are followed by ‘A Field Key to Our Common Land Birds,’ and attractively written biographical sketches of the breeding species. The migrants and winter residents are treated more briefly, and an annotated ‘List of All Birds Found in the District of Columbia,’ by Dr. C. W. Richmond, is given. There are also nominal lists of winter birds, birds that nest within the city limits, etc., and an ‘Observation Outline,’ abridged from Miss Merriam′s ‘Birds of Village and Field.’

The book is, in fact, a complete manual of ornithology for the District of Columbia, and will undoubtedly prove an efficient guide to the study of the birds of that region.