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showing on it the topographic features of the region, such as 

 streams, ponds, marshes, hills, woods, springs, wild pastures, 

 etc., also roads and paths, and such landmarks as school- 

 houses, country churches, etc. On this map indicate the local 

 distribution of the birds, as determined by the data gradually 

 gathered; mark favorite nesting -places of various species, 

 roosting-places of crows and black-birds, feeding-places, and 

 bathing- and drinking-places of certain kinds, the exact spots 

 of finding rare visitants, rare nests, etc. 



As already mentioned, many of the birds of a locality are 

 " migrants," that is, they breed farther north, but spend the 

 winter in more southern latitudes. These migrants pass 

 through the locality twice each year, going north in the spring 

 and south in the autumn. They are much more likely to be 

 observed during the spring migration than in the fall, as the 

 flight south is usually more hurried. The observation of the 

 migration of birds is very interesting, and much can be done 

 by beginning students. Notes should be made recording the 

 first time each spring a migrating species is seen, the time 

 when it is most abundant, and the last time it is seen the same 

 spring. Similar records should be made showing the move- 

 ments of the birds in the fall. A series of such records, cover- 

 ing a few years, will show which are the earliest to appear, 

 which the later and which the last. Such records of appear- 

 ance and disappearance should also be kept for the summer 

 residents, those birds that come from the south in the spring, 

 breed in the locality, and then depart for the south again in 

 the autumn. Notes on the kinds of days, as stormy, clear, 

 cold, warm, etc., on which the migration seems to be most 

 active; on the greater prevalence of migratory flights by day 

 or by night; on the height from the earth at which the migrants 

 fly, etc., are all worth while. For an excellent simple account 

 of migration see Chapman's "Bird-Life," Chapter IV. A 

 more detailed account of migration, and one giving the records 

 for many species at many points in the Mississippi Valley, is 

 Cooke's "Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley." 



Plumage. It must be kept in mind in using bird-keys and 

 descriptions to determine species that the descriptions and 

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