This book was written to supply a definite need. Its primary purpose is to interest the little child in, and to make him acquainted with, those feathered friends he is most likely to see. Because there is no method of approach to the child mind equal to the story, this method of conveying information has been adopted. So far as I am aware the book is unique in this respect. In its preparation an earnest effort has been made to present as far as possible the important facts regarding the appearance, habits and characteristics of our feathered neighbors. It is intended to be at once a story book and an authoritative hand book.From the preface

A Review by America's Leading Naturalist
Dr. WILLIAM T. HORNADAY
Director, New York Zoological Society

"For a number of years parents have been asking me, 'What is the best book about birds for little children?' And that question has caused me much trouble. Now, 'The Burgess Bird Book for Children' is the answer.

"This fine bird book is its author's masterpiece. Of course it is written in the personal narrative style of the Bedtime Stories; and it represents the author at his best. As a children's book of birds, it is a stately volume, and it was last 'Anxious Mother' through many a long day. Fifty-eight species of birds are so thoroughly treated, that each of them receives the honor of a colored picture by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, but scores of other species appear independently.

"Every page teems with interesting facts in bird lore, so deftly inserted in the story that their presence there is a joy. There is nor formal descriptive matter, and no fine-type text of any kind. The book is a series of stories, all told by the birds themselves, with the assistance of Peter Rabbit, Johnny Chuck, Striped Chipmunk, and the few other old four-footed favorites. The vivacity of it all is irresistible, and the child that can not be lured into bir-land by this book 'is fit for treason, stratagems and spoils.

"If there is anything in Mr. Burgess' text that merits criticism, I have failed to find it. The book is a distinct triumph, in text and in pictures. It rings true, and it is by far the best bird book for children that I have ever seen. In fact, it is the very book that 'Anxious Mother,' the children and the booksellers have all been awaiting, for twenty years or more."

From the dust jacket