BENEATH TROPIC SEAS 



bunting and then can at will discard it in place of 

 some physical attribute, you have increased a 

 thousandfold the interest of any place on earth. 



Next to identifications, habits are of importance. 

 But to start out to study the habits in general of 

 the birds about you is a dilatory and vague thing, 

 and if persisted in, may ultimately arouse in the 

 mind unworthy thoughts of such ignoble, but at 

 least complete, ideas as rubbers, sets, games, 

 rounds, hands and matches. Give your interest 

 in the habits of birds a focus, your efforts an 

 objective, and limit your field of activity, and 

 instantly the possibility of complete achievement 

 will add immeasureably to your enthusiasm. How 

 and where do birds go to roost, and how and when 

 do they awaken.^ The effort at learning these is 

 worth any daily dozen and a five foot library shelf. 



One must move and observe quickly to 

 accomplish much between the time when the first 

 bird stops feeding in late afternoon and when the 

 gathering dusk merges sparrows with leaves. I 

 never considered the importance of roosting songs 

 and rites and gatherings until I watched pheasants 

 in the high Himalayas, and the last echo of this 

 came only yesterday. I was peering over the sooty 

 roof edge of my apartment building far down into 

 the barren back yards, when I noticed sparrows 

 converging. They were coming from all directions 

 — only nine, where once there had been scores, 

 but instead of roosting in some sheltered tree of the 

 neighboring park, they had chosen the bare 



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