The Birds' Calendar 



" Every copse 

 Deep tangled, tree irregular, and bush 

 Bending with dewy moisture, o'er the heads 

 Of the coy quiristers that lodge within, 

 Are prodigal of harmony ? " 



The anomaly is only explicable by the fact of 

 the general impression that for the world at large 

 ornithology is an utterly impracticable pursuit, 

 exclusively reserved for the few who can, as it 

 were, make a business of it ; that it is a sci- 

 ence to be mastered before one can reap any 

 reward from it ; that any smattering in this 

 subject is profitless. 



Such a notion in regard to any study is a 

 permanent discouragement and an insuperable 

 barrier to popular interest in its pursuit. But 

 it is a misconception indeed as regards orni- 

 thology. For this science is almost unique in 

 its simplicity, in the absence of necessary pre- 

 liminary technical study, and in the possibility 

 of immediate, definite, and pleasurable results, 

 greater or less according to the circumstances 

 of the individual. 



One commonly feels helpless to undertake 

 botany, chemistry, biology, etc., without a 

 teacher, and supposes that ornithology requires 

 the same formality of instruction, as well as 



