BIRD ACQUAINTANCE. 



HOW many birds are you sure you would know by 

 sight ? You can tell an English Sparrow from 

 a Robin or Bluebird, and you would not mistake the 

 Summer Yellowbird or the Oriole perhaps. 



Will you not begin to get into closer acquaintance 

 with the citizens of Bird World ? Let us stop searching 

 for new birds and study awhile some that we already 

 know. The English Sparrow is the commonest of 

 all, and you will not need to go far to find one. 



As I write, there is one within a few feet of me in 

 the pear-tree branches outside my window. 



Wliat is it that we wish to know ? First, by what 

 marks shall we recognize him when he comes again? 

 The male and female Sparrows differ, and the young 

 at different ages. We will try to remember where 

 this one is slate color, and where brown, where lio^ht 

 colored, and where darker, w^hether the color is in 

 patches, bars, or streaks, whether it shades into an- 

 other color or ends distinctly. The diagram of a 

 bird on page 17 will help us in stating what we see. 



Now we must record what we have learned, to see 

 if it fits the next Sparrow. This one may be a Cock 

 Sparrow, and that may be a lady-bird ; or this may be 



