viii FOREWORD 



Plenty of good books on ornithology have been 

 written describing each species of bird as to its ap- 

 pearance and life-habits, but I am not aware that 

 anyone has undertaken to bring together in fairly 

 complete form all the information that is needed to 

 enable the beginner to get the utmost pleasure and 

 good out of the modern outdoor study of birds. 

 Equipped with a handbook of birds for identifica- 

 tions, and with this HANDBOOK OF METHOD 

 1 — which is an embodiment of the author's thirty 

 years* experience afield — to show one HOW to 

 study birds in life and to suggest the many possi- 

 bilities of the subject, it is hoped that the beginner 

 in the delightful pastime and avocation of outdoor 

 bird-study may be thoroughly armed for the fray, 

 and that many may be encouraged to study the birds 

 who without such suggestion and aid might fail to 

 become interested or hesitate to undertake it. 



Herbert K. Job. 

 West Haven, Connecticut, 

 November, 1909. 



