Excerpt from Key to North American Birds, Vol. 1 of 2
The present work constitutes the completion of Dr. Coues' life-long labors ou behalf of the science of ornithology', too widely known and appreciated to require further mention here. In preparing it for publication the publishers have steered extraordinary expense, difficulty, and delay by the loss of Dr. Coues' assistance in the proof-reading and illustrating of the book. The manuscript was finished but shortly before his death, and though fortunately complete in this form, was left iu such shape as to present almost insuperable difficulties to the compositor or proof-reader, who lacked the author's direction and supervision.
The publishers have had the good fortune to secure the services of Mr. J. A. Parley, who has read the manuscript of the Systematic Synopsis, constituting Part Three or the body of the work, with the most painstaking care. To the scholarly zeal and conscientious spirit of fidelity and accuracy with which this ornithologist has carried out the task he set himself of presenting the fifth edition iu exactly the form Dr. Coues would have wished, had he lived, the publishers and their readers owe an unlimited debt of gratitude. The result, though a posthumous book, is one which Dr. Coues would unquestionably have been proud to own as the crowning work of his life. As a scientific work, it is without doubt authoritative and definitive.
The science of ornithology- has made vast strides since the publication of the fourth edition of this work, and the present issue has outgrown the limits of u single octavo volume. The following points briefly summarize the scope of the additions and changes from former editions:
1. Enlarged descriptions of species.
2. Accounts much fuller than in former editions, of the breeding habits of birds, particularly the detailed description of eggs.
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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге Key to North American Birds, Vol. 1 of 2 (Classic Reprint) (Elliott Coues)