1.) WHEN TO FIND BIRDS. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Experience will soon show you the places where birds are most 
     
     abundant. The more varied the nature of the country the greater 
     
     number of species you may expect to find inhabiting it. An ideal 
     
     lo'ality would be a bit of tree-dotted meadow with a reed-bordered 
     
     pond or str tam. surrounded by woods, rolling uplands, and orchards. 
     
    

    
     Common sense will tell you how to act in the field. Birds are gen— 
     
     erally shy er iatures and must be approached with caution. You must 
     
     not, therefore, go observing or collecting,r dressed in flaming red, but 
     
     in some inconspicuous garb and as quietly as a 'at. Furthermore. go 
     
     alone, and keep the sun at your back—two apparently unrelated but 
     
     equally important bits of advice. 
     
    

    
     The collector generally has the instincts of a hunter, and practice 
     
     will develop them. The "squeak" is one of his most valuable aids. 
     
     It is made by placing the lips to the back of the hand or finger and 
     
     kissing vigorously. The sound produced bears some resemblance to 
     
     the cries of a wounded or young bird. In the nesting season its utter- 
     
     ance frequently ereates much excitement in the bird world, and at all 
     
     times it is useful as a means of drawing,r bush- or reed-haunting species 
     
     from their retreats. One may ente' an apparently deserted thicket, 
     
     and. after a few minutes' squeaking. find himself surrounded by an 
     
     anxious or curious "roup of its feathered inhabitants. 
     
    

    
     The observer of birds will find that by far the best way to study 
     
     their habits is to take a sheltered seat in some favored locality and 
     
     become a. part of the background. Your passage through the woods 
     
     is generally attended by sullleient noise to warn birds of your coming 
     
     long before you see them. They are then suspicious and ill at ease. 
     
     But secrete yourself near some spot loved by birds, and it may be your 
     
     privilege to learn the secrets of the forest. 
     
    

    
     When to Find Birds—During the year the bird—life of temperate 
     
     and boreal regions fluctuates with the changing seasons. Birds may 
     
     thus be classed in the following groups accm'ding to the manner of 
     
     their occurrence: Permanent residents are birds found in one locality 
     
     throughout the year. Summer residents come from the south in the 
     
     spring. rear their young. and leave in the fall. Winter visitants come 
     
     from the north in the fall. pass the winter. and leave in the spring. 
     
     Transient visitants pass through a given place in migrating to and 
     
     from their summer homes north of it. Accidental \‘isitants are birds 
     
     which have lost their way. They are generally young and inexperi- 
     
     enced, and are usually found in the fall. 
     
    

    
     The best time of the year to begin studying birds is in the winter, 
     
     when the bird population of tempe'ute regions is at the minimum. 
     
     The problem of identification is thus reduced to its simplest terms, 
     
     and should be mastered before spring introduces new elements.