Ebook Our Winter Birds

Plates I and II contain all the commoner (and some of the rarer) winter land birds of the northeastern United States. They are arranged on shelves as if they were displayed in a museum case. In fact, the idea for illustrations grew from a seasonal collection of birds which many years ago the author placed on exhibition in the American Museum of Natural History. The figures are small, but so accurately has Mr. Sawyer drawn them that minute details of form and color are shown as effectively as though the birds were much larger. The great advantage of these figures over most bird illustrations is that all those in the same case are drawn to the same scale. (The scale in Plate II being slightly larger than in Plate I.) One can therefore gain a better idea of actual size from these drawings than is possible when the Crow and Kinglet, for example, are made of equal size. Furthermore, this plan permits of the direct comparison of one species with another, while a glance at the two plates gives one a comprehensive conception of our winter bird-life.