CHAPTER II.

THE STUDY OF BIRDS OUT—OFiDOORS.

How [0 Identify Bt'rds.—\Vhether your object be to study birds as a. scientist or simply as a lover of Nature, the first step is the same— you must learn to know them. This problem of identification has been given up in despair by many would-be ornithologists. We can neither pick, press, net, nor impale birds; and here the botanist and the entomologist have a distinct advantage. Even if we have the desire to resort to a gun its use is not alvavs possible. But with patience and practice the identification of birds is a. comparatively easy matter, and in the end you will name them with surprising ease and certainty. There is generally more character in the flight of a bird than there is in the gait of a man. Both are frequently inde- scribable but perfectly diagnostic, and you learn to recognize bird friends as you do human ones—by experience.

If you confine your studies to one locality, probably not more. than one third of the species described in this volume will come within the field of your observation. To aid you in learning which species should be included in this third. the paragraphs on [fang/e are followed by a. statement of the bird‘s standing at \Vasliington, l). (T, Hing.r Sing. N. Y., and Cambridge. Mass, while the water-birds of Lon}.r Island are treated specially. Take the list of birds from the point nearest. your home as an index of those you may expect to find. This may be abridged for a given season by considering the times of the year at which a bird is present.*

* It is sometimes possible to secure a list of birds of your own vicinity. These “local lists“ are gene‘ally published in scientific journals, but one may fre- quently secure a copy of the author‘s edition. On this subject. correspond with L. S. Foster. 35 Pine Street. New York city. Among the local lists of eastern birds which were. issued as separate publications and are now for sale are—

L A Catalogue of the Birds of the Yirginias. by Wm. (i Rives. M. A” M. D. Proc. Newport [R 1.] Nat. Hist. Sou, Document V11. 1890. h‘vo, pp. 100. one map, 305 species.

2. The Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. with Introductory

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