xc 



INTRODUCTION 



Read down this as before, when, by throwing out the families to 

 which it does not belong, you come to Ardeidce 2'. Sill straight 

 and .V/////-/J. neck and most ofhendfatJi, red, to which it does belong. 

 Go now to the page specified (72), and run down the Key to Genera, 

 contained in Fa'mily Ardeidse, and you find that it belongs to the 

 genus Ardea. to which you are referred (p. 74). Here you find the 

 general characters of the genus and a key to its species. As you 

 know the bird is bluish gray and its size large you find it to be Ardea 

 ]nrnili,ix. i>f which a detailed description is given (p. 75). If you 

 have been identifying a bird that you have shot, you will have your 

 own fresh measurement s to compare with those in the description 

 (see ]>ai;e \xvii.). 



In sonic of the more obscure birds you will find on getting to the 

 description of the species that you have made a mistake in running 

 down the keys, but by patience and care in following them you will 

 be able to identify all but the most difficult birds. 



After a little study you will grasp the general classification of 

 birds so that it will not be necessary to go through the whole series 

 of key- for each bird. You may not know what it is, but you 

 know many tilings that it is not, and if you make a practice of 

 ill in i nut! i<t/ you will narrow down the possibilities so that it will be 

 much easier to find your bird. You may not know whether it 

 is a crow or a raven, but you do know that it is not a water bird, 

 a hawk, owl. or sparrow, and so you can go on throwing out what 

 you know it is not until you have to look up only those about which 

 you feel uncertain. 



The question as to which subspecies a bird belongs to, unless de- 

 tcnninable by -co-rapine range, caB often be decided only by expert 

 ornithologists with lai'ire series of skins for comparison, and, in such 

 found often amoni! some of the llycatchers, the song spar- 

 ro-As. and \\rens. the only way to be sure of your bird is to send it 

 to a museum for identification. The National Museum in Washing- 



O 



ton and the American .Museum of Natural History in New York 

 both identify material sent them. 



