This dedication begins the extraordinary late nineteenth century book Citizen Bird, a primer in bird identification and ecology written as a story in "plain english for beginners" by Mabel O. Wright and the eminent American Ornithologist Elliott Coues.  It relied heavily on the exquisite artistic work performed by a young Louis Agassiz Fuertes which brought the observations of the book's protagonists to life.

Louis Agassiz Fuertes was a junior at Cornell University when he was commissioned to create 111 bird drawings for Citizen Bird.  Fuertes completed these finely detailed bird portraits while carrying a full load of classes, working on his senior thesis, serving as president of the Cornell Glee Club, and writing for the college humor magazine.  His grades suffered (much to his father's consternation), but Coues recognized the magnitude of Fuertes' talent and urged him to spare no effort in making each of the drawings as perfect as possible.

The labor paid off: the 1897 publication of Citizen Bird was a widely-praised success that launched Fuertes into an unprecedented career in bird illustration.  Coues himself wrote that in Fuertes, "...America has not produced an ornithological artist of equal possibilities."