MISADVENTURES OF BIED-WATCHING 



AFTER some years of bird- watching, the 

 lover of Nature begins to regard his hobby 

 as one of the sports of his country Hfe. It; is 

 a quiet, unpretending sport, demanding the 

 exercise of much patience ; and the chief draw- 

 back is that considerable leisure must be at the 

 disposal of the watcher if a fair measure of 

 success is to be assured. Frequent disappoint- 

 ments are inevitable, but these serve only to 

 foster increasing care and vigilance, in order that 

 the results at last obtained may preclude the 

 possibility of doubt. The naturalist cannot but 

 realise the value of the advice given by several of 

 our best writers on the life of the fields — ^that 

 every fact should be treated as new ; exhaustive 

 notes should be made, and compared with those 

 written by other hands on the same subject ; 

 and the observer should never be slavishly bound 

 by the opinions even of recognised authorities. 

 It will presently dawn on him how little is known 

 concerning the habits of some of our commonest 

 birds. He may shoot our woodland friends, 

 identify them, measure their feathers and their 



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