APPENDIX. 



X/'OU will find on following pages some keys, as they are called, 

 which are to help you unlock some of the secrets of Bird 

 World, and particularly to help you learn the names of any strange 

 birds which you may meet. Be sure to remember that you may 

 often, even with their help, make mistakes, and keep a sharp w^atch 

 of any bird which you think you have identified, to see whether 

 its actions, voice, or habits may strengthen or weaken your confi- 

 dence that you are right. 



Your eyes need be very sharp to work with the keys. They 

 will ask you whether the bird had a rounded tail or a square one, 

 whether the bill was long or short or stout or slender, what the 

 colors were and where they were. 



Perhaps it will help you to observe a living bird accurately, if 

 you study as closely as you can the bird pictures on the pages of 

 the book. Their colors, it is true, are not given except in a few 

 cases, but you can see that the tail feathers of some have " thumb- 

 marks" of some light color, that there are bars across the wings 

 of others, and that these bars are formed sometimes of solid color, 

 sometimes by rows of spots. Examine the tails to see whether the 

 outer or inner feathers are the longer ; you will see that some tail 

 feathers are sharp and probably stout. The bills will show many 

 points of difference, and tell much about the birds' feeding habits. 



[Note. The following key includes about fifty of the commonest summer 

 residents of northeastern United States. The Owls, Hawks, Swallows, and 

 one or two other birds whose general appearance serves to identify them, have 



